BlueSky Capital to Buy Four Hotels in Queenstown, New Zealand

July 25, 2007 - Bloomberg By Tracy Withers

July 26 (Bloomberg) -- BlueSky Capital, a U.K. investor in resorts and hotels, is spending NZ$300 million ($241 million) on four properties in Queenstown, New Zealand, including a 221-room hotel for Intercontinental Hotels Group Plc.

The properties are among 13 planned by closely held New Zealand property company Melview Developments Ltd. as part of its NZ$1 billion Kawerau Falls Station project on the Queenstown lakefront. Closely held BlueSky will also buy a 197-room serviced apartment hotel, a luxury lodge and a second apartment block, Melview said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg News.

BlueSky is headed by Stephen Bellotti, who was Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein's London-based head of capital markets until March last year. The Manchester-based investor runs the $250 million Global Destinations Fund to invest in resorts.

``New Zealand as a destination is increasingly top of mind for visitors from the Northern hemisphere,'' Bellotti said in the statement. ``Kawarau Falls Stations will soon be recognized as the leading resort-style development in New Zealand.''