Keen-Summit Capital Partners won the 2021 Turnaround Atlas Hospitality & Real Estate Restructuring of the Year Award from the Global M&A Network for the sale of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel.
The sale of L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel was one of the largest hospitality transactions of 2020, according to Keen-Summit Capital Partners, selling via court order for $100 million to New York-based EOS Investors. The L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel property was among the assets sold by the United States government in an effort to recover illegally laundered funds from a major international money laundering scandal known as 1MDB, which allegedly involved the embezzlement of billions of dollars from the Malaysian development fund of the same name. The embezzled funds were used to buy expensive properties, a mega-yacht, paintings by Van Gogh and Monet and to finance the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The sprawling scandal has spurred law enforcement action in the United States, Singapore, Switzerland and Malaysia to trace the misappropriated funds through a complex web of financial institutions and shell companies.
“We are deeply honored to be recognized with this prestigious award for our firm’s outstanding work on a difficult project in the midst of the COVID pandemic,” Matt Bordwin, co-principal and co-managing director of Keen-Summit Capital Partners, said. “This was a rare opportunity for investors. Five-star hotels in Beverly Hills do not come on the market often and despite the world being on lockdown for COVID, we had an extraordinarily robust marketing process.”
“Even in light of the restrictions of the pandemic, we are delighted that we, along with our partners at Vedder Price, were able to successfully navigate and execute this deal during a year when the hospitality market was struggling significantly,” Harold Bordwin, co-principal and co-managing director at Keen-Summit Capital Partners, said.
L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel, a 116-suite luxury hotel, underwent a $37 million renovation in 2016. The United States District Court for the Central District of California, at the request of the United States Department of Justice, entered an order authorizing the sale of the hotel. Michael M. Eidelman of Vedder Price, as special master, engaged Keen-Summit Capital Partners to broker the sale. In May 2020, during the COVID-19 quarantine, Keen-Summit Capital Partners initiated a marketing plan that leveraged its industry relationships and proprietary database. Keen-Summit Capital Partners fielded inquiries from more than1,000 prospects, nearly 800 of whom executed the non-disclosure agreement, and received more than 50 written offers. The sale closed in October of 2020.
According to Global M&A Network, winning the independently-governed awards equate to achieving gold standard of performance standing in the global restructuring, insolvency and distressed investing industries. The winners are selected according to various stringent criteria and exhibited expertise.
