Keen-Summit Capital Partners received the 15th Annual Turnaround Award for the Real Estate Deal of the Year for its restructuring of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel. The sale of the L’Ermitage was one of the largest hospitality transactions of 2020, ultimately selling via court order for $100 million to New York-based EOS Investors.
The Turnaround Awards, which recognize companies and individuals that reached new heights in the restructuring, distressed investing and bankruptcy industries over the past year, was presented at a gala dinner celebration during the 2021 Distressed Investing Summit in New York City on Sept. 29. According to the M&A Advisor, the award winners were selected from among hundreds of nominations in a variety of category groups. Evaluation of the nominees and selection of the winners was completed by members and experts in the M&A, finance and turnaround community.
“We are truly humbled over the attention the sale of L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel has received over the past year,” Matt Bordwin, principal and co-president of Keen-Summit Capital Partners, said. “And we are deeply honored to be recognized by M&A Advisor for our firms’ ability to take on and successfully complete a challenging project in the middle of a very trying year for the hospitality industry.”
“This was unlike other deals we’ve done in the past, as this type of sale usually is held behind closed doors, which is why it turned out to be a unique opportunity for investors,” Harold Bordwin, co-principal and co-managing director of Keen-Summit Capital Partners, said. “We had a fantastic team working on this project, one that was executed seamlessly with the special master Michael Eidelman and his amazing partners at Vedder Price.”
The U.S. government took control of the L’Ermitage in connection with the 1MDB multi-billion-dollar international money laundering scandal involving financier Jho Low. Allegedly, Low embezzled billions of dollars from a Malaysian development fund.
The L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel, a 116-suite luxury hotel, underwent a $37 million renovation in 2016 following its acquisition in 2010 by an entity tied to Low. The United States District Court for the Central District of California, at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, entered an order authorizing the sale of the hotel. Eidelman of Vedder Price, as special master, engaged Keen-Summit to broker the sale. In May 2020, Keen-Summit initiated a marketing plan and fielded inquiries from more than 1,000 prospects, nearly 800 of whom executed the non-disclosure agreement, and received more than 50 offers. The auction took place in August 2020 and the sale closed in October 2020.
