Pakistan considering $36m bail-out package for Roosevelt Hotel in New York

Pakistan is considering injecting a $35.58m as second bail-out package for the Roosevelt hotel in Manhattan, New York, that is owned by Pakistan International Airlines Investment Limited (PIAIL).

The country’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has discussed about setting up a panel to provide this bailout package for the property.

In September 2020, the panel had approved $142m to cater to the immediate financial needs of the hotel. This amount was arranged as a loan from the National Bank of Pakistan with per annum mark up of $5.9m.

Additionally, it approved $13m as an annual carrying cost until a lease agreement is finalised with a joint venture partner.

PIAIL risked losing this Manhattan property as well as the Scribe Hotel in Paris in 2019 after a court of  British Islands enforced an international arbitration decision that involved handing over the two properties as settlement to Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) for cancelling its mining licence in Balochistan, a province in Pakistan.

PIAIL, a subsidiary of Pakistan International Airlines, is incorporated in British Virgin Islands. TCC is a joint venture held by Barrick Gold and Antofagasta.

Pakistan had cancelled TCC’s mining licenses on Reko Diq gold and copper mines in Balochistan, citing irregularities, while the TCC claimed that they were not wrongly stopped from undertaking mining operations.

The hotel, which opened in 1924, has 1,015 rooms and 52 suites.