Prince hotels not for sale, official says

Advertiser Staff

Despite speculation that the four Prince hotels on the Islands are for sale, the Japanese owner is not formally seeking buyers, said the president of Prince Resorts Hawai'i.

Former Hawai'i Gov. George Ariyoshi said yesterday that owner Seibu Railway Company has not taken steps to sell the company's four hotels: the Hawai'i Prince Hotel Waikiki, the Maui Prince Hotel, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Hapuna Beach Hotel.

However, he didn't dismiss the possibility of future transactions, saying executives for the publicly traded Seibu would be duty bound to consider proposals "if a really good offer comes through."

The possibility of a sale was raised this week when Real Estate Finance & Investment, a publication of Institutional Investor Inc., cited unnamed sources in reporting that Seibu officials have quietly put the Hawai'i hotels on the market, seeking about $800 million total, or about $200 million each, for the four hotels.

Such a move would fit the recent pattern in which Japanese hotel owners have sold properties in Hawai'i to raise cash to cope with a slumping economy at home.

Ariyoshi said Seibu remains "relatively well off." The company owns more than 80 Prince hotels, with most serving business and resort customers inside Japan.