What You Need to Know About the Possible Sale of Luxury Hotelier Belmond

"Nothing is off the table" when it comes to the "strategic alternatives" that the Belmond board of directors is currently reviewing for the luxury hospitality company. That was the primary message delivered by Belmond's chairman of the board of directors, Roland Hernandez, during the company's second quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, a day after news broke of Belmond's intent to explore a possible sale of some — or all — of the company. The assets include 46 hotel, rail, and river cruise experiences spread out around the world, among them the Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice, the Belmond Hotel Splendido in Portofino, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxford and the 21 Club restaurant in New York. While Hernandez and Belmond CEO Roeland Vos did their best to inform analysts and shareholders about what might happen as the board proceeds with its review, questions no doubt arose, such as why is the company pursuing a sale now? Who might eventually buy Belmond? And for how much? And what are some potential risks? Whatever the answers to those questions may be, however, it's clear that Wall Street is taking the news very well with multiple congratulations from analysts during Thursday's conference call. Shares of Belmond were trading at $15.35 a share Thursday afternoon, a 38 percent increase from the stock's previous closing price of $11.12, and just shy of the company's 52-week high share price of $16.20. The 'Problem' with Belmond Analysts and shareholders are likely pleased with this news because Belmond has struggled financially in the past few years, and especially since it rebranded itself to Belmond from Orient-Express Hotels in 2014. "Belmond has always been a bit of a problem child," Dillip Rajakarier, Minor Hotels CEO and Minor International chief operating officer told Skift when asked for his thoughts on Belmond's possible sale. "I think the board has been settling for some time in terms of creating shareholder value." He continued, "They have had issues in terms of performance over the last few years. Belmond produced a five-year plan and they are not really delivering on those numbers, and now they have decided to look at different strategic options … it's something I think they should have done a long time ago." Rajakarier is not alone in his assessment, either. Earlier this year, former Belmond chief operating officer Filip Boyen told Skift:Â