Investors ‘interested’ in Selmun Palace

Three investors have expressed informal interest in acquiring the Selmun Palace Hotel, which has been closed down by its owner Air Malta as part of its restructuring efforts.

The airline’s new board of directors was now actively working to issue a Request for Proposals for prospective bidders, Air Malta said in a statement it issued last night in reaction to claims made by the General Workers’ Union.

Earlier in the day, the GWU’s general secretary Tony Zarb had claimed that two companies interested in buying the hotel would retain the redundant workers.

Mr Zarb told disgruntled employees assembled outside the Prime Minister’s office in Valletta that “the Prime Minister should know we can save the situation. There are people who want to buy the hotel and take all the workers”.

He said it was now the government’s responsibility to meet these companies, which he did not name, and find a solution. One of them had already met Air Malta and spoke to hotel employees, he added.

Food and hospitality section secretary Joseph Bugeja claimed one of the bidders was UK-based and was ready to spend upwards of €50 million on the hotel and renovate it to five-star status while retaining the workers.

“We’re concerned that Air Malta, by sitting on these deals, is intent on doing something different with the hotel, which would jeopardise the workers’ jobs,” Mr Bugeja said.

Air Malta, however, categorically denied that it had received a €50 million offer to purchase the subsidiary company as a going concern.

It said it had made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the hotel over the years and since the last official attempt fell through in April, it had not received formal offers.

As regards the three interested investors, it said it was in the best interest of Air Malta that the process be formalised through the issuing of a Request for Proposals.

“One of the conditions that will be made in the RFP is that prospective buyers will be bound to use the premises as a hotel,” it said.

The board of directors was determined to maximise the value and proceeds of the sale as such revenue “is critically needed and forms an integral part of the restructuring plan of the airline”.

Workers at the protest yesterday said they were frustrated that the hotel had given up all its bookings that would have seen it recoup some money.

Mark Saliba said: “Instead of making money to pay our wages, the hotel had to pay compensation for the wedding receptions that had to be cancelled.”

Workers said they were expected to report for work, even though there was no work whatsoever to be done apart from sprucing up the hotel to make it attractive for potential buyers.

Joseph Camilleri, who has been a receptionist at the hotel for 30 years, said his prospects were bleak: “Which hotel will employ a 53-year-old?”

“What I want to know is why they’re declaring the hotel bankrupt and who is responsible for this failure,” said Andrew Ward, 48.

Peter Said, a storekeeper, complained: “They were sending passengers in transit to other hotels. They even started outsourcing sweets and pastries leaving two pastry chefs employed with the hotel doing nothing.”

In its statement, Air Malta said it was following the correct procedures, in line with the law, with regard to the redundancy of the hotel’s 58 employees.