The Intercontinental Mar Menor Resort is taken over by the banks

May 11, 2010

The five star hotel is part of a group of assets that Polaris has sold to obtain liquidity.

The Intercontinental Mar Menor Golf Resort, which is located in the residential complex of the same name, and owned by Polaris World, has been bought by a group of banks and saving banks. The developer and the banks closed the sale of the group of assets, worth a total of 83 million euros, on 22 April.

In addition to the five star hotel, the financial institutions also assumed ownership of three of the developer's golf courses: the Mar Menor Golf Resort 2, the Condado de Alhama golf course, and the La Torre Golf Resort 2.

The assets sold to Banco Popular, Banco de Valencia, Bancaja, and CAM by Polaris World include several residential properties.

The sale was completed on 22 April, and ensured that Polaris World has enough liquidity to continue its property development activities, and avoid insolvency proceedi ngs. A week later the Mercantile Court number two of Murcia issued a court order which shelved the pre-insolvency proceedings which had been initiated by the developer, and declared that fifteen of its subsidiary companies were no longer in a state of insolvency.

Bank sources explained that the ownership of the Polaris World's assets had been assumed by the company Inversiones en Resorts Mediterráneos (IRM). Grupo Bancaja (Bancaja and Banco de Valencia) has a 50% stake in IRM, CAM has a 30% stake, and Banco Popular has a 20% stake.

New management

IRM has assigned management of the Intercontinental Mar Menor hotel to the company Gestión de Activos en Transición (GAT). Headquartered in Madrid, the company specialises in managing hotel restructuring projects, and according to the Alimarket portal, is already managing two other hotels owned by Bancaja, the Santa Pola Life Resort and the Benidorm Vida & Golf, among others.
In addition, according to information from 'La Verdad' at the end of April, IRM´s golf courses are now being managed by the company Olagolf, which was founded by the Spanish golfer José María Olazabal.

Polaris World still has five other golf courses at its Hacienda Riquelme, La Torre, El Valle, and Condado de Alhama resorts. The developer, which was started by the businessman Pedro García Meroño, from Torre Pacheco, also retains ownership of the five star La Torre Golf Resort.