Auctioneer’s hammer has fallen on Intercontinental Hotel, marking the end of an iconic hospitality brand at the heart of Nairobi after closing shop in mid-2021.
To participate in the auction, the auctioneer says bidders must pay a refundable deposit of Sh50,000 to Garam Investments Auctioneers, either in cash, via banker’s cheques, or through the provided pay bill number.
This will be the second time in three years that the Hotel assets have been placed on auction after a four-year frantic search for a strategic investor failed to yield.
Although the collapse of the hotel in 2021 was linked to the impacts of COVID-19, it was already struggling before that, and was in 2019 declared technically insolvent after failing to service a Sh717 million debt owed to Stanbic Bank.
The financial problems saw the parent firm, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) cut ties with the Kenyan franchise in a trend that has characterized its global operations.
It has in the past four years dropped more hotels than it’s opening, as part of a plan to boost customer service and brand perception.
In the first quarter of 2021, IHG removed 61 hotels with a total of 9,500 rooms.
Half of the hotels being dropped belong to either Holiday Inn or Crowne Plaza.
The building adjacent to the National Parliament has been under a liquidator, Joseph Kimani of Kingori Kimani and Company after the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) voluntarily winded up the scheme that owns a 33.8 percent stake three years ago.
Sovereign Group, linked with former President Daniel Arap Moi, owns a 19.2 per cent stake in Kenya Hotel Properties Limited (KHPL) while the Development Bank of Kenya has a 12.99 per cent stake.
The hotel which was on a 99-year lease since 1947 now joins a list of iconic landmarks fading away from Nairobi’s CBD, including Hilton Hotel, Simmers, and Florida 2000 at the intersection of Kenyatta Avenue and Koinange Street.
Others like 680 Hotel, Grand Regency, and Crowne Plaza closed shop for some time before rebranding and changing ownership.
