Fairmont will appeal before the Provincial Court the sentence that approves the agreement of creditors of the Juan Carlos I hotel in Barcelona. It was issued two weeks ago with the aim of ensuring the reopening of the business and saving 300 jobs.
According to sources consulted, Fairmont considers that the agreement should be approved after finding out who will be the manager of the hotel, a matter that will be settled after a trial that will take place on July 14.
The judge will decide if Fairmont has the right to continue operating the hotel (the contract expires in 2039) or if the future manager will be Meliá, which has closed an agreement with the owner firm, Barcelona Project’s (BP). According to these sources, the fact of knowing who will be the manager is key, since it could alter the liabilities and the composition of majorities to approve the agreement. If the judge opts for Meliá, Fairmont demands 19 million in compensation. Ordinary liabilities are 120 million.
According to a document to which this newspaper has had access, Fairmont considers that it has the right to continue operating the hotel for various reasons. Firstly, because it ensures that it has fulfilled its obligations and has contributed to the growth of the business. He defends that from 2015 to 2019 he managed to increase revenue from 29 to 45 million and gross profit, from 1.5 to 6.4 million.
During the pandemic, he maintains that his behavior was exemplary: he maintained the facilities and the relationship with the clients and the staff, to whom he gave financial supplements to the ERTE. In fact, in the document Fairmont accuses BP of breaching obligations: “It stopped paying insurance and basic supplies and hid information.” This caused the manager to temporarily suspend the contract in April 2022. Despite this, he says that he always maintained the dialogue and was negotiating the reopening with the Tyrus fund – the main creditor and future owner – until the end of 2022, when he received, to his surprise, an email to terminate the contract.
In the aforementioned document, Fairmont regrets that Tyrus used sensitive information to forge the agreement with Meliá, announced two weeks later. In addition, he argues that his reopening plan is better, since it promises an investment similar to that of Meliá and offers more advantageous remuneration if the hotel does not meet revenue targets. He also points out that, in the interest of the contest, it is better to keep it operational to avoid new expenses.
On the other hand, sources close to the property consider that Meliá generates more confidence and that its business plan is better. Tyrus has already started investing in the redevelopment works.
