DISPUTES AMONG PARTNERS LEADS TO AUCTION BY BANK ON 10TH DECEMBER TO RECOVER 18 MILLION US DOLLAR LOANS
(Posted 03rd December 2018)
As a result of ongoing wrangles among the three key shareholders has the Ubumwe Grand Hotel in Kigali been slotted for auction on the 10th of December, after the banks failed to see repayments for their loans – all reportedly blocked in the boardroom by erstwhile partners turned bitter adversaries.Pitted against each other are primarily the Chaudhary Group which is reportedly based in Nepal, local Rwandan business man Robert Bapfakurera and Ugandan industrial group Mukwano.
The outstanding loan, inclusive of interest accrued, now stands reportedly at some 18 million US Dollars, not too big a figure to repay but made impossible by a boardroom standoff caused by attempts to change management.
Hilton Hotels was to take on the property under a franchise agreement and turn it into a Doubletree by Hilton branded hotel but all attempts were thwarted by the Nepalese investors who were loath to give up their own management.
With none of the two against one shareholders however having the required majority in a board room vote, have matters come to a head after the bank already months ago advised the Rwanda Development Board, the hospitality industry regulator, of the impasse and the need to find a solution.
With a week to go is the pressure now on for the shareholders to agree and release the funds to the bank or else risk losing their investment altogether.
Watch this space for news on or immediately after the 10th of December, if the hotel was indeed auctioned off and to whom.
