The recently renovated Alexander the Great, a property of Kanika Hotels Ltd, was sold to an investment company, Ruby Coast Properties Ltd. It will continue to be operated by Kanika Hotels Ltd through a long-term lease agreement with the new owners. 


The Kanika International Business Center, a luxury office complex built by Kanika Development Ltd, was sold to real estate investors, Bystrema Holdings Ltd. KIBC, that houses offices of major international companies, such as forex traders FXTM, will be operated by its new owners who have plans to maintain and further enhance its operations. 


Both agreements provide that neither the operations, management and staff of the hotel nor those of the business centre will be affected. 


Kanika Chairman Spyros Th. Karaolis said that the two deals would reinforce the Group’s position as leaders in the hotel industry in Cyprus and will allow Kanika Hotels Ltd to accelerate its expansion plans.

Since 2010, Kanika Hotels has invested over €30m in its hotels to refurbish and upgrade the facilities and services they offer. 


He said that following the agreement with Claridge Public Ltd to jointly convert and manage the Paphos Amathus Hotel as the second Olympic Lagoon Resort – a highly successful concept developed by Kanika Hotels in 2010 – the company plans to build two new hotels in Cyprus and abroad. 


Limassol-based tax and business consultants Costas Tsielepis & Co Ltd represented the interests of the buyers, the two Russian-owned companies in Cyprus. The firm’s Director and Head of Taxation, Alexis Tsielepis, said that negotiations for the two properties were long and arduous, but finally delivered two much-anticipated solid foreign investments in Cyprus, the biggest since the crisis and bailout. 


Tsielepis, whose firm was at the forefront of yet another recent foreign investment involving the Le Meriden Spa & Resort in Limassol added: “Our clients were delighted to secure such important investments in a prestigious and well-established group.” 


The firm’s Managing Director, George Tsielepis, who handled the logistics of the deal, said: “Our clients decided to get involved in two of the most promising industries in Cyprus – tourism and international business services – demonstrating foreign investors’ unwavering confidence in Cyprus and its economy.” 


He added that “recent moves by national tax authorities towards greater transparency and emphasis on substance mean that international businesscompanies in Cyprus will have to establish fully-fledged offices with commercial operations from the island in order to benefit from the attractive double-taxation benefits.” 


George Tsielepis further stated that the new owner of the hotel has plans to invest further in the property, while the seven-storey KIBC is operating at almost full occupancy with most of its offices rented out to international business companies. 


A team of lawyers from the firm Scordis, Papapetrou & Co LLC, headed by partner Constantinos Adamides, acted on behalf of the Kanika Group on the two deals, while Alexia Tsanos, advocate and legal consultant, represented the legal interests of the buyers.

Source: Financial Mirror