Princeville Resort
sold for $161M

The Princeville Resort on Kauai is being sold for more than $161 million, according to a published report.

The Nikkei English News said the sale of the 9,000-acre resort to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds and a partnership headed by developer Jeff Stone will likely close this month.

Stone told the Star-Bulletin in July, when the deal was first announced, that the buyers plan to make substantial improvements to the resort. He could not be reached yesterday for comment.

Stone said in July that the buyers expect to retain the resort's 600 employees as part of the sales agreement.

The deal includes the 252-room Princeville Hotel, two golf courses, the Princeville Tennis Club and Pro Shop, Princeville Health Club and Spa, Princeville Shopping Center and other land holdings on Kauai's North Shore.

The sellers include Japan's fourth-largest brewer, Suntory Ltd., which owns a 51 percent stake in the property; Mitsui & Co., which owns 24.5 percent; and Japanese developer Nippon Shinpan Co., which also owns 24.5 percent.

Suntory, which will receive about $80.8 million from the deal, plans to sell some of its noncore businesses and invest about $1.9 billion over the next three years to buy other beverage companies, Nikkei reported.

Mitsui and Nippon Shinpan acquired the resort in 1990 from developer Chris Skase's Quintex Australia Ltd. Suntory later purchased a 51 percent stake in the resort from Nippon Shinpan.