The famous tourist complex Marina d’Or is for sale. Its owner, the North American investment fund Farallon Capital Management, has put the gigantic resort of Oropesa (Castellón) in the showcase and, after negotiating with various interested groups, finalizes an operation, still not closed, with Grupo Fuertes, the Murcian firm which leads the food sector with the ElPozo factory. Next to them, according to various sources, would be Magic Costa Blanca, which will be in charge of managing the complex and with which they already have business within the tourism sector. The sale comes four years after Farallon took over the famous Holiday City for more than 120 million euros.
The figures for the ongoing transaction have not been disclosed. In fact, none of the interested parties, consulted by EL PAÍS, have confirmed or denied the operation, which other sources have revealed. The entry of ElPozo in Marina d’Or, advanced by Hosteltur, is still on the table of negotiations and, in the event that this is successful, Magic Costa Blanca, a hotel company from Benidorm (Alicante), will also participate in the operation, as as different businessmen from Benidorm have stated, who assure that Javier García Cuenca, vice president of the Alicante company and of the hotel management association Hosbec, has been engaged for several months in getting the initiative to go ahead. The idea, according to the same sources, is for Magic to manage the hotel complex. The Fuertes Group already shares a 50% stake in Magic Natura, a resort located in Terra Natura, a zoo in the tourist capital of the Costa Blanca.
Despite the fact that the backbone of the Murcian business network is ElPozo, its commitment to the tourism sector only grows. They have hotel accommodation in Murcia, the Mar Menor and Mazarrón in the Region of Murcia, and in Alicante, El Campello and Benidorm in the neighboring province. They also reached an agreement a few months ago with the Barceló group to manage assets located in both provinces. For its part, Magic Costa Blanca focuses its activity in the area close to Benidorm, with hotels scattered throughout the Alicante tourist giant, l’Alfàs del Pi, Finestrat and Vila Joiosa (Alicante) and the Valencian municipality of Gandia, and the property of four water parks. Its main asset is the imagination of García Cuenca, according to an important businessman in the sector who prefers to hide his name. “Marina d’Or is a product that is failing”, he comments, “and if anyone can revive it, it is Javier”, he assures. The experience in Terra Natura, he continues, “will have served as an experience” for the group led by Víctor Fuentes, “and they will have seen the profitability that can be obtained from it.”
Two more businessmen from the Benidorm hotel conglomerate also confirm García Cuesta’s intervention in the meeting between Farallon and Grupo Fuertes, although they agree that the business “is not closed yet.” On the other side of the bunker in which the three companies have entered the transaction, the Holiday City promoted by Jesús Ger in the 90s of the last century awaits. Marina d’Or contains, in its 1.4 million square meters, 3, 4 and 5-star hotels, tourist apartments, leisure complexes, sports spaces and half a million square meters of garden areas facing the Les Amplaries beach in Oropesa.
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