Butch Stewart Wants to Buy Veranda

Butch Stewart Wants to Buy Veranda
By Hayden Boyce (Turks & Caicos Sun)

Hotel magnate Gordon “Butch” Stewart is actively and aggressively pursuing the purchase of Veranda hotel, a five star fully-inclusive 123-room residence-style resort which is located right next to his sprawling Beaches Resort and Spa, in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.

Reliable sources informed the SUN that over the past few months, the Jamaica-born Stewart and Veranda owner Andre Serruys of Britain, held several meetings about the multi-million sale which would make Stewart the largest single owner of beachfront property in Providenciales and increase his majority percentage of hotel rooms in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Veranda is an $80 million investment.

Sources told the SUN that the owner is asking for upward of $100million for the property which sits on 11 acres and has 800 feet of beachfront.

In recent weeks, there were reports in the hotel and tourism industry which suggested that the deal already had been closed, however this was denied by Serruys in an exclusive interview with the SUN.

“If the question is ‘have I sold Veranda to Beaches?’ then the answer is ‘no’. Butch Stewart and I are friends, it is a sad consequence of that to find that each time we meet it is generally assumed that it is for business reasons and specifically in regards to happenings on Provo it is assumed to mean that Beaches has bought Veranda,” Serruys said.

“If the question is ‘have we explored the possibility of a sale of Veranda to Beaches?’ then the answer is obviously ‘yes’.

It is, after all quite logical to muse over the prospect of a marriage of two excellent adjoining resorts on the best beach in the world creating what certainly would be one of the finest ‘flagship’ resorts in the entire Caribbean. No doubt we will continue to explore the possibilities but the outcome remains to be seen – for now it is business as usual.”

It is understood that one of the obstacles to closing the sale of Veranda is the terms and conditions of management contract which the resort has with Grace Bay Resorts, reportedly for five years, effective February 1, 2010.

Serruys is apparently trying to work out an arrangement that would facilitate the sale and ensure a smooth and amicable transition, a reliable source said. A British multi-millionaire, Serruys has had to deny accusations that the business he sold for more than £90m was shot through with “endemic” fraud, kick backs and “black money” scams.

He had his assets frozen without warning following allegations of fraud in May 2008, which were withdrawn by an entity called SITA when the case settled out of court late last year.
The case related to the sale of Serruys’ scrap metal business Easco to SITA in May 2007.

SITA said the business was “replete with dishonest practices” and “effectively worthless” - a claim the defendants strenuously denied and argued should never have been brought during five weeks of proceedings in the High Court.

Serruys and his business partner Richard Cubitt, were forced to fund a hugely costly legal defense against SITA UK, part of French-owned water and waste management conglomerate Suez Environment, which has annual sales in excess of 12bn euros (£10bn).

The legal battle took two-and-a-half years, and while he was allowed to fund a legal defense, the freezing order meant Serruys needed SITA’s permission to invest money in his businesses until the order was finally lifted. Serruys said the order had cost him tens of millions of pounds in lost revenues, with key projects put on hold or delayed.