The two-year ownership saga surrounding John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts appears to be over as this week a settlement in bankruptcy court with the Springfield, Missouri, company’s largest creditor, J.D. Holdings LLC, taking over the 35 hotels and other assets.
Under the terms of the agreement, J.D. Holdings — whose owner Jonathan Eilian helped privatize John Q. Hammons’ publicly traded company — will take over JQH Hotels and take a US$1 billion loan for the purchase via Goldman Sachs.
An advisement letter issued to J.D. Holdings — and included in court documents — by Goldman Sachs officials said J.D. Holdings would buy “all or substantially all of the real property assets … owned by the Revocable Trust of John Q. Hammons.” Trust assets include Hammons Tower, Highland Springs, Hammons Field and more.
When the settlement plan is finalized, J.D. Holdings’ Atrium Hospitality affiliate would manage the JQH hotels.
J.D. Holdings said it expects to keep on “virtually all” of JQH Hotels’ 4,000 employees and the majority of management. It also agreed to start a US$20 million charitable trust in late hotelier Hammons’ name. The legendary Hammons died in 2013 at age 94.
Court documents indicate J.D. Holdings intends to terminate the employment of CEO Jacquie Dowdy and General Counsel Greggory Groves. Dowdy and Groves will remain successor trustees of the JQH Trust, according to the documents.
JQH Hotels filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2016, essentially halting Eilian’s litigation efforts to take over its properties.
The 2005 agreement that privatized JQH Hotels gave Eilian’s holding company indirect ownership of 43 Hammons’ hotels and management of 15 others. He has sought to pick up the remaining 35 properties.