By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has hired a consortium led by Jones Lang LaSalle Americas Inc. (JLL) as the financial adviser for the sale and joint venture development of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, USA, the Privatisation Commission Board said on Friday.
The board, chaired by the minister for Privatisation Fawad Hasan Fawad, also approved a transaction committee to oversee the divestment of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL), the loss-making national carrier, according to a statement.
The board was briefed on the recently concluded agreement with a consortium led by Ernst & Young LLC, Dubai, for the divestment of PIACL, which has accumulated more than $4 billion in losses and arrears.
Pakistan plans to privatise PIA after securing a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June, as part of a fiscal discipline plan.
An advertisement inviting technical and financial proposals for the Roosevelt Hotel transaction was published on September 8, 2023. The hotel, owned by Pakistan since 1979, is a 19-story property with 1,015 rooms, located near the Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.
The hotel has been facing financial losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lower occupancy rates. It shut down for over two years in October 2020.
In June this year, Pakistan leased out the hotel to the New York City administration for three years, generating a revenue of $220 million for the government.
PIA, the owner of the historic Manhattan hotel, signed an agreement with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation as the NYC authorities plan to provide residential facilities to house migrants in the hotel.
The Roosevelt Hotel, named after the 26th US President Theodore Roosevelt, has been a prominent landmark on the Manhattan skyline since its opening in 1924. The iconic hotel was leased by PIA’s investment arm, PIA Investment Ltd (PIA-IL), in 1979, which eventually purchased the building in 1999.
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