Prospective owners of the Château Montebello have been asked to put their best foot forward and potentially revise their offers to purchase the iconic resort, as the court-appointed receiver extends the bidding process for a third time.
Revised bidding timeline announced
In a letter sent to bidders on June 19, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the receiver overseeing the sale, stated that after review and consideration of the binding offers, no binding offer has been selected at this time. All phase 2 qualified bidders are being provided with a last and final opportunity to submit a binding offer or revise and improve their existing offer.
The deadline for this third phase of bidding is now 12 noon on June 26. The selection of the final successful bid will be made by no later than July 10 at 5 p.m., according to the revised timeline. Initially, the winning bid was expected on June 9, then extended to June 22.
Bidding process and property details
Qualified bidders had until May 13 to submit binding offers to purchase the hotel and the 21-hectare property, which includes an 18-hole golf course, skiing and hiking trails, indoor and outdoor pools, skating, curling, and tennis facilities. It is not known how many prospective ownership groups have submitted bids for the resort.
The 211-room Château Montebello was put up for sale in 2024 after Hong Kong-based real-estate conglomerate China Evergrande was ordered to liquidate $245 billion in worldwide assets as part of bankruptcy proceedings. Evergrande had purchased the hotel in 2014 as its first major investment in the Canadian real-estate market.
Local all-star group bids for the hotel
The deadline extension came shortly after news leaked that Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer and Devcore Group CEO Jean-Pierre Poulin had formed a local all-star group bidding for the hotel. Poulin is part of a group with Andlauer and Le Nordik spa founder and CEO Martin Paquette, along with two unnamed real-estate entrepreneurs who secured a bid for the historic property on the north shore of the Ottawa River in Montebello, Quebec.
In an interview earlier in June, Poulin said it made perfect sense for Andlauer and the local ownership group to purchase the hotel and resort. This makes perfect sense to make sure that we step up and we don't let this beautiful asset go to a U.S. potential buyer or another Chinese buyer who never even visit the property ever, Poulin said at the time.
I hope that they're going to think it through and that, if it's not us, it's a group like us that are doing this for the right reasons, and that's going to celebrate this place, that's going to keep Fairmont there, Poulin added. Fairmont is an amazing banner for this site and they've done a great job for the last few decades, the employees are used to that. So you don't want to come in and rock the boat.
Background on the sale
The Château Montebello resort has been a landmark in Quebec's Outaouais region for decades. The sale process has attracted significant interest from local and international buyers. The receiver's decision to extend the bidding process multiple times indicates the complexity of the sale and the desire to secure the best possible outcome for creditors.
