Hotel chain Corinthia grew in Libya as a result of the money invested in the country and “not because of favours” the group’s chairman said yesterday.
Alfred Pisani also denied having any relationship with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s family. He was talking to journalists after giving Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi a tour of the recently inaugurated Corinthia hotel in London.
“We never had a relationship with the politicians. We are just business people,” Mr Pisani said when asked what relationship existed between the company and the ruling Gaddafi family.
The Libyan Arab Finance Investment Company, that belongs to the Libyan government, is part-shareholder in the Corinthia Group. The group’s operations were not shackled by UN sanctions imposed on the Gaddafi regime but as a result no funds or dividends could be passed on to the Libyan shareholders.
“Our development in Libya is owed to the money we invested, not because of favours. We took the risk when Libya was still hounded by sanctions to build a hotel. We opened it in 2003 and that same year relations between Libya and the international community were normalised. We were there first when other companies started to return to Libya,” Mr Pisani said.
He admitted the Libyan crisis had negatively hit the company’s lucrative hotel operation in Tripoli. From a profitable operation, the Corinthia Bab Africa hotel was trying to reach breakeven status.
However, he insisted it was “very important” for the company not to have closed the hotel down completely despite pulling out most of its foreign staff, which amounted to some 160 employees.
The company retained some 90 employees, including five Maltese, and the hotel kept functioning even if costs were cut to mitigate the losses.
Mr Pisani said the most important thing was for the unrest to end because it was having “serious consequences” for people living in Libya.
“I hope it will end as soon as possible and with the least pain for the people there,” he said.Asked whether a change in the Gaddafi regime would also change the business climate in Libya, Mr Pisani insisted that development would continue irrespective of which politicians were in power.
“Change will not change the country, in terms of its location and its resources. It will not change the interest in a tourism sector which is still developing. At some point the country has to return to its normal rhythm even if I don’t know how much time it will take. Nobody wants this unrest.”
However, the Libya crisis did not stop The Corinthia from inaugurating its London hotel, the ninth in as many countries.
Mr Pisani said the total investment in the hotel, which was previously used as the headquarters of the British defence ministry, ran into a staggering £300 million.
Inaugurated in April, the hotel’s market value is almost double what the company pumped into the hotel, Mr Pisani said, adding that it boasted of the largest presidential suites in the world covering some 450 square metres each.
Talking to the Prime Minister, Mr Pisani was confident that the London hotel would eventually become “the number one place in London”.Dr Gonzi was in London for a working visit during which he held talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron.