The Miyazaki Prefectural Government and U.S. investment fund Ripplewood Holdings LLC will sign a memorandum in mid-October on cooperating in attracting domestic and foreign tourists to the Seagaia resort complex, a senior local government official said Thursday.
The memorandum also states that the two parties will pledge to jointly develop the local tourism industry and that Ripplewood will give prior notice to the local government of significant changes to Seagaia management, Hiroaki Nakano, head of the prefectural government's commerce and labor division, told the prefectural assembly.
Ripplewood recently completed its acquisition of the failed Seagaia resort complex by gaining all of its 7.32 billion yen in shares newly issued after a 100 percent capital cut.
"We aim to keep a close relationship by signing the memorandum. It will not be legally binding," Nakano said.
Seagaia operator Phoenix Resort Co. and its two affiliates filed for court protection from creditors in February with 326.1 billion yen in debts -- the nation's largest failure of a semipublic entity. The Miyazaki Prefectural Government had a 25 percent stake in Phoenix Resort.
The resort complex consists of a 43-story hotel, golf courses, a convention hall and a zoo. It was the venue of last year's meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers.
The local government has established a 6 billion yen fund to rehabilitate Seagaia, which still has about 3.8 billion yen in funds. It said it will set up a special committee to consider how to use the money.