Bill Gates buys resort near Puerto Vallarta for $200 million
Looks like the Gates family might have a new vacation home. Or, at least, a nice investment.
Cascade Investment, Bill Gates? private investment arm, is purchasing the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita and an adjacent 48-acre parcel of development land for $200 million in cash, according to a?filing?with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The deal is expected to close in early 2014.
John Pinette, the Gates family?s spokesman, declined to comment on what Gates plans to do with the purchase.
It may simply be that Cascade Investment, or Gates, thinks it?s a good time to increase its investment in the Four Seasons hotel chain.
Earlier this year, Cascade Investment bought the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta for $62 million, according to?Hotel Management, and the Four Seasons Hotel Houston for $140 million, according to?Bloomberg.
Gates and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Saudi Arabian billionaire, have a 95 percent stake in the chain, according to?Bloomberg,?which says the two men took the hotel chain private in 2007.
But now, Alwaleed is calling for the company to prepare for an IPO, feeling the time is right, according to?The Wall Street Journal. The hotel chain has a new CEO in former real-estate investor Allen Smith and competitor Hilton Worldwide issued its IPO last week.
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