Momi auction hammer pauses at F$41 million

August 25, 2009 02:34:21 PM

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Negotiations are expected to begin shortly on a final sale price in the much publicized Fiji Momi Bay project.

This after the auction hammer today hovered over a F$41 million bid price put in by an undisclosed party, a somewhat disappointing finish for auction marketing agent Bayleys International Real Estate.
 
Bayleys Fiji manager Philip Toogood told FijiLive shortly after the auction in Nadi that although the auctioning went well and a bid had been accepted, Bayleys will hope it can coax more out of the bidder.

“The highest bidder put in a bid of F$41 million - plus VAT, but we were hoping to get more than that so we are preparing to go into negotiations with the party,” Toogood said.

He had said earlier that more than 120 investors had declared interest in the uncompleted resort project, but decline to confirm whether that included any local interests.

The Momi Bay resort project, initially funded by a syndicate of local and overseas investors, was recently taken possession of by the Fiji National Provident Fund, which had secured its position as first mortgagee.

The public pension fund had reportedly poured over $80 million into the project until the project ran into more difficulties following the collapse of its New Zealand investment partner and developer Matapo Ltd, whose financier Bridgecorp Ltd met with a controversial decline in New Zealand.  

FNPF, who had appointed Bayleys to market the property, had hoped to recover the $80m it had spent on the Momi Bay project.