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In the highest-value real estate auction ever held in the Cayman Islands, the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman hotel property was sold Wednesday to an American private equity company.
According to a press release issued by the law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman, RC Cayman Holdings LLC was the successful bidder for the hotel property.
RC Cayman Holdings - an affiliate of Five Mile Capital Partners LLC of Stamford, Connecticut - was the secured lender of the property and had sought to recover some US $234 million from Ritz-Carlton developer Michael Ryan and his companies, according to filings in the Cayman Islands Grand Court earlier this year.
The property was sold as a block and includes the 136-acre resort, the nine hole Blue Tip golf course and future development land.
"With this sale, only the underlying ownership of the property changes," said Conyers Dill & Pearman representative Rick Finlay. "The resort will continue to be operated as before and by the same management structure.
"It's a very satisfactory outcome, given the long-standing uncertainty surrounding the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman resort."
RC Cayman Holdings had initial set the reserve price for the auction at US$240 million, but later lowered it to US$177.5 million. The press release stated that RC Cayman Holdings "met the reserve price" at auction today.