Sunwing - BDHR (IFC-39627)

Countries
  • St. Lucia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Gros Islet
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Sep 8, 2017
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Sunwing Travel Group Inc
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Construction
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 35.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 144.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Aug 15, 2017

Disclosed by Bank Aug 8, 2017


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.
The proposed IFC investment will support the development of a greenfield, 456 room all-inclusive resort in Gros Islet, St. Lucia owned and operated by Canadian-based Sunwing Travel Group Inc (“STG”) and Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts Inc. (“BDHR”) (collectively the “Sponsors”) under its Royalton brand (the “Project” or “Royalton St. Lucia”). BDR, established in 2011, is a fully owned subsidiary of STG. It is one of the fastest growing resort groups in the Caribbean and Mexico with a 34-property portfolio exceeding 12.500 rooms. The Company manages around 8,500 rooms (in Cuba) and owns/operates over 4,500 room in Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and St Lucia. Blue Diamond Resort’s diverse portfolio caters to a range of budgets and vacation interests. BDR operates six brands each catering to a different market segment (affordability/style). Royalton St. Lucia is a 456-room 5-star all-inclusive resort with upgraded amenities at Smugglers Cove, St. Lucia. The hotel has been constructed on an existing resort, where almost all the existing facilitates were demolished and the new facilities have been constructed. The hotel consist of ten buildings from one to six floors, five main pools, several restaurants, a SPA and utilities such as laundry, waste water treatment plant, generators, boilers, water distillation / filtration units. The hotel has been operation since February 2017 and has been fully funded with sponsor’s equity. The Company may consider a phase two of 150 to 250 mixed-use condominiums but this is not currently part of the financing package. Royalton St.Lucia’s design works has been completed by Aleron Limited Consulting Engineers, Trinidad and demolition and construction works was performed by NH International Caribbean Limited, Trinidad. STG’s and BDR’s technical teams supervised and monitored the construction. This project has been classified as a Category B project in accordance with IFC’s Policy of Environmental and Social Sustainability as the environmental and social (E&S) risks and potential impacts are expected to be limited, generally site specific, and can be avoided or mitigated by adhering to generally recognized performance standards, procedures, guidelines or design criteria. Key E&S issues include BDR’s capacity to expand its environmental, health, safety and social management system in line with IFC’s PS requirements to Royalton St. Lucia, occupational health and safety during operational phase, implementation of an internal grievance mechanism in line with IFC’s PSs, life and fire safety / structural safety, biodiversity and implementation of an external communication mechanism where interested parties (including stakeholders and neighbors) can register their concern and stakeholder/interested parties consultation.
Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Total Project cost is US$144 million. The proposed IFC investments seeks to provide a long-term loan of up to US$35 million, on IFC’s own account, and mobilize an additional US$35 million from B loan lenders. The proposed project includes a 12-year US$70 million project financing package (the “Project”) comprising of (i) a US$35 million A-Loan; and (ii) a US$35 million B-Loan for the all-inclusive hotel Royalton St. Lucia, in St. Lucia, an IDA-blend country to BDSL Limited and BDSL (Barbados) Holdings Limited which are 100% subsidiaries of Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts, Inc. (“Blue Diamond” or “BDR”) whose parent company is Sunwing Travel Group (“STG” or “the Group”) for financing of its Royalton St Lucia hotel project.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.
ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

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How it works