KING Solomon Hotel in Honiara – perhaps the nation’s second oldest and iconic landmark is reportedly changing hands again – for an undisclosed price.
The new owners are said to be the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (SINPF) and a former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, who reportedly purchased the controlling share in the investment.
Sources told Solomon Star Wednesday hotel staff have been advised of the takeover.
The sources said talks have reached an advance stage between the Hotel’s owner and the new joint owner the SIPNF and a former Prime Minister of neighbouring Papua New Guinea.
The former PNG Prime Minister arrived in Honiara last Friday, reportedly to conclude the deal. The only former Prime Minister who arrived in Honiara last week was Sir Peter O’Neil.
A PNG national who travelled with Sir Peter denied any knowledge of the deal or whether Sir Peter’s visit to Honiara was related to the King Solomon Hotel sale.
“Sir Peter has left. Perhaps you can talk to him when he returns to Honiara next time,” the man who hailed from the East Sepik Province told Solomon Star when pressed.
Solomon Star later found out Sir did not leave Honiara. He simply checked out of the King Solomon Hotel and checked into another leading hotel nearby.
The King Solomon Hotel in Honiara was originally built in the 1960s, but was expanded and renamed in the 1990s.
The hotel was originally called “The Hibiscus” and built by The Saunders in the 1960s, according to published report on the hotel. It was later expanded in the 1990s by Islands Hotel, which added more rooms, a cable car, and the Bamboo Café and Pipe Line Bar.
The hotel was renamed the King Solomon Hotel after the expansion.
In 2002, Shane and Susan Kennedy became the new owners of the hotel. They added local artisan details to the hotel and kept the name of the bar as Hibiscus Bar. They also built another hotel bearing the same name in Gizo, Western Province.
The King Solomon Hotel in Honiara served as the main base for an Australian Medical Team which accompanied the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI for short, for the 10-year stint in Solomon Islands.
Its remain unclear whether the new owners would change the name.
By Alfred Sasako
