Wednesday, January 17, 2007

by Oliver Staley

NEW YORK, USA (Bloomberg): Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest casino company, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. have signed a deal to help build the Baha Mar hotel and casino complex in the Bahamas worth more than $2 billion.

Harrah's will own 43 percent of the project with the remainder owned by Nassau, Bahamas-based Baha Mar Resorts Ltd., the companies said Tuesday in a statement. Starwood, the third largest US hotel operator, will run four hotels with about 2,000 rooms at the development, projected to open in 2011.

Harrah's will run a Caesars Resort Hotel with more than 1,000 rooms and a casino floor that Baha Mar said will be the largest in the Caribbean.

The project on New Providence Island will compete with Kerzner International Ltd's $1 billion Atlantis casino resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas, which is now the biggest in the country with 2,317 rooms.

Baha Mar is being developed by Sarkis Izmirlian, whose family is the builder of More London, an office complex that includes London's City Hall. The three companies announced their plans for the joint venture in November 2005.

The resort is on 1,000 acres including the Nassau Beach Hotel, which will be demolished to build the resort, Baha Mar President Don Robinson said today in an interview. Construction is expected to begin this year.

Starwood Hotels Starwood, based in White Plains, New York, will operate W, St. Regis, Westin and Sheraton hotels at Baha Mar, which will also include residences. Starwood will convert an existing Radisson hotel into the Sheraton after spending $80 million in renovations.

Starwood was initially expected to be a 10 percent owner of the project, said Robinson. Starwood will instead buy $40 million in bonds and Las Vegas-based Harrah's increased its ownership stake to 43 percent from 33 percent, he said.

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