Hili Ventures has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy the Comino Hotel and bungalows, Times of Malta is informed. 

The unstipulated deal will see the demolishment of the current hotel and bungalows to be replaced by another boutique hotel and structures, a source close to the deal said. 

The footprint occupied will be the "same or even smaller" as that currently occupied by the hotel and bungalows but details about the project are still scant.

A number of leading overseas architects have been approached to design the tourist resort, the source said.

A share purchase agreement will be signed with Kemmuna Ltd in the next couple of weeks with the deal sealed by the end of the year.

Hili Ventures is jointly owned by Melo Hili and Beppe Hili. The group operates a string of diversified businesses in 10 countries.

According to the Natura 2000 management plan, issued in 2015, the owners of the hotel and bungalow complex, Kemmuna Ltd, had been seeking to redevelop the properties for several years and were then in the process of formulating a development plan for the area.

The plan warns: “Further development can affect the protected habitats and protected species and if it is to be considered at all needs to take very strong cognizance of the location of these properties and great importance of the surrounding protected land and the impacts that urban development may have on such sites and on the wider SAC / SPA [Special Area of Conservation / Special Protection Area].”

Nevertheless, the plan does not rule out further expansion of the hotel or bungalow complex footprint, requiring only that the environmental and planning authorities that the necessary studies are carried out to protect habitats and species.

The Comino Hotel made the headlines for the wrong reasons last month after an estate agent listed it to for sale valued for €100 million, prompting a backlash. The company later said the listing was a fictitious one created for training purposes and mistakenly published.