Emin Capital Buys the Hotel Formentor in Mallorca, to become a Four Seasons

Main Photo: The Hotel Formentor, to become a Four Seasons

Date: December 2020

Location: Majorca, Spain

Name: Hotel Formentor, to become a Four Seasons – opening 2023

No. of Keys: 127

Seller: Barcelo Group, who bought the hotel in 2006 for €36m, which sits in 1,200 hectares of grounds. Since joining the Mallorcan chain Barceló Hotel Group, it has promoted the important cultural legacy of Formentor. The cultural encounters began in the 1930s and Barceló recovered the Literary Conversations in 2008, after four decades of absence; and in 2011, the Formentor Prize for Letters. An internationally prestigious literary award that has been received by writers such as Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Javier Marías, Enrique Vila-Matas or Ricardo Piglia, among others.

In 2013, Barceló Hotel Group launched the Formentor Sunset Classics , a new classical music festival that has had the participation of internationally renowned artists such as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Lang Lang or Gustavo Dudamel. And in 2019, coinciding with the hotel’s 90th anniversary, the documentary ‘Formentor, the sea of ​​words’ was premiered, directed by José Luis López-Linares, winner of three Goya Awards, and executive produced by Morena Films.

Buyer: The Andorran investment fund Emin Capital has issued a statement which says that the €165m payment to the Barceló Group for the Hotel Formentor has “all the bank guarantees and the support of Pollensa town hall”.

Emin has responded to a report in the newspaper La Vanguardia which described the operation as “suspicious”. It was being undertaken by a “phantom investor in the Agbar Tower” (the skyscraper in Barcelona). The fund says that “we are very satisfied with the operation, and the relationship with Barceló and the town hall is excellent”. “The Four Seasons project is going to be very important for the entire area and will be respectful of the environment, sustainable and with an economic impact for the island.”

“The operation with Barceló is perfect. With regard to those we have been unable to carry out in previous years, this is very simple. Business is like that, and it should not be seen as strange that they weren’t completed, as this always happens. The operation for Formentor has been perfectly formulated.”

The Barceló Group has given total backing to Emin’s assessment. “They have complied with the agreement. Everything has gone ahead with transparency, and it has been registered as it should be – with a notary. We are very content and there is nothing to object to. We are satisfied with how the process has developed, with all deadlines set a year ago having been met.”

Emin adds that under the arrangement with Four Seasons, work at the hotel will position it internationally as a “super luxurious hotel that is respectful of the environment”. “There is a great deal of interest in its undertaking, both on our part and that of the hotel chain. Everyone is going to win.”

A €20m upgrade of the property is planned, to rebrand the property as a Four Seasons.

Price: €165m

Price per Key: €1.3m

THPT Comment: The hotel, which has a rich literary history, will be in safe hands with Emin Capital and Four Seasons.

First Seen: 24 News Recorder

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