GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Blackstone Completes Buyout of Boca Resorts

BOCA RATON, FL-The previously announced acquisition of Boca Resorts Inc. for approximately $1.3 billion by an affiliate of Blackstone Group reached completion. Shareholders in the locally based company that owned and operated five of Florida’s premier destination resorts received $24 per share in cash, without interest.

H. Wayne Huizenga, chairman and CEO, along with several members of his family, and a small group of investors collectively controlled a 98% interest in the company. According to published reports, Huizenga and his son will pocket more than $430 million from the transaction.

The five resorts include: Boca Raton Resort & Club here, which includes two golf courses; Regency Resort at Pelican Bay in Naples along with the Premier Club and Naples Grande Golf Club; Edgewater Beach Hotel in Naples; Hyatt Regency Pier 66 Hotel and Marina in Fort Lauderdale, and the Radisson Bahia Mar Resort and Yachting Center in Fort Lauderdale along with its complementary Grande Oaks Golf Club.

At the time the acquisition was announced, Jonathan Gray, Blackstone Group’s senior managing director, said it planned to continue reinvesting in the properties. The group is a private investment firm based in New York with offices in Boston, Atlanta, London and Hamburg, Germany. Its real estate group, which focuses on investing in hotels and other commercial properties, has raised five funds representing more than $6 billion.