Indonesia’s Rajawali buys Four Seasons Langkawi?

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia’s Rajawali Group is believed to be buying The Four Seasons Resort Langkawi for an estimated US$110 million (RM360.8 million), sources said.

This would make it the second investment in a luxury project in Langkawi by the Indonesian group in recent months, bringing total investments by the group to close to RM800 million. It is understood that Rajawali Group already owns the Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa on the duty-free island and also holds a stake in Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur.

Rajawali Group is said to purchase the property from Dubai-based Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI). KHI is a hotel and resort investment company that is part of the Kingdom Group, which is affiliated to Saudi Arabian prince Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin AbdulAziz AlSaud.

Late last year, Rajawali Group said that it would be investing RM300 million for the development of the St Regis Langkawi and another RM100 million for a convention centre.

The St Regis hotel in Langkawi, being built near the Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa, will have a total of 130 rooms including lagoon suites, beach villas, water villas, residences and hillside villas. In addition, Rajawali said another RM100 million will be invested for the opening of a convention centre.

The Four Seasons Resort, located in Tanjung Rhu, was developed by Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS). The resort, sitting on a 35ha site, commenced operations in 2005. Two years later in 2007, MAS disposed of the resort for US$114.2 million as part of its rationalisation exercise through the disposal of non-core assets under its business turnaround plan.

Based on the exchange rate in 2007, RM400 million was paid for the hotel portion and RM35 million for a 10-ha lot of land. This sale won the title of the “most expensive hotel” based on the price paid for the 91 villas as each villa cost an estimated RM4.97 milion.

Apart from hotel investments, Rajawali Group is involved in telecommunications, cement, consumer goods and department stores in Indonesia. It has strategic partnerships with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and France’s Accor SA.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 20, 2014.