Hyatt is sole bidder for Hyatt Regency
Hyatt Corp. was the only company interested in buying the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa Waikiki, as of the Tuesday evening deadline for competing bids.
Attorneys for bankrupt Azabu Buildings Co. Ltd. said yesterday they will ask the court to confirm the sale of the Waikiki hotel next week to Hyatt for $445 million.
The sale includes the King's Village shopping center, which is owned by Azabu Buildings Co.'s wholly-owned subsidiary Azabu USA Corp.
The confirmation hearing is set for March 14.
Azabu has said it will use money from the sale to repay secured creditors, claiming about $330 million, and a portion of claims by unsecured creditors, owed about $4.8 billion.
Azabu bought the Hyatt in 1986 from developer Chris Hemmeter as part of a 1980s buying spree in which the company spent about $600 million on Hawaii hotels including the Ala Moana, the Kona Lagoon and the Maui Marriott.
Hyatt was the so-called "stalking horse" bidder, chosen by Azabu to ensure competitive bids for the 32-year-old hotel. Any other potential buyer would have had to bid over Hyatt's $445 million offer by at least $7.5 million.
"We would've liked to have additional bidding, but none of the parties who looked at the property chose to make an overbid," said James Wagner, attorney for Azabu, which went into bankruptcy in February 2006.
Honolulu-based Trinity Investments, which holds the first and second mortgages on the Hyatt totaling $330 million, had been a potential bidder along with Beecher Ltd., a Los Angeles-based investment fund that asserts it is owed about $70 million in addition to other unsecured claims.
The hotel is situated on four separate parcels with long-term ground leases owned by the Steiner family, Okumoto family and CK Corp., which is owned by Trinity Investments.
The Hyatt is the last significant asset owned by Azabu, which lists debts of approximately $5 billion and assets of about $500 million.