Vero Beach being sold soon

[Vince]

This poster is obviously a fraud, he has not given any evidence whatsoever supporting his claim. I think as one other poster said he is trying to stir things up especially since vero has been a hot topic as of late on the boards. Just my opinion!




-Vince

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Originally posted by goofy50
Thank you for the warm welcome. Some of you board members will be apologizing to me for discounting my claim once the official annoucement is made.

You are correct that in the off chance this rumor is true, I would be the first to apologize.
I think it was partially the timing of your post, as we just had a bunch threads about Comcast selling DVC ect...
Anyway, I too would like to know the source of this rumor.

Even though I was tongue in cheek with my earlier post in this thread, it would benefit me to be both a Marriott and DVC owner.

MG

 

[crisi]

A long time ago I did a lot of Mergers Acquisitions and Diversiture work. The company I worked for (at the time Grand Metropolitan PLC - a company that has gone through its own merger since then and is now a different company with a different name) owned Intercontential Hotels just prior to when I started, and I had to clean up a lot of ICH stuff when I started working there. (I did most of my work for their liquor and food divisions). I also worked for Carlson Companies for a while - working within their hotel division - they own Radisson - (but not doing M&A work - I worked with their customer loyalty programs - now you know why I'm so hot on the "DVCers should get better discounts" topics). So I have a little background in MA&D and the hotel business in general (although it is somewhat dated - and was at the very beginning of my career when I didn't know enough to know what I was looking at).

If Disney is divesting themselves of assets, regardless of it it is one hotel or twenty, or ABC or ESPN or whatever, it is highly unlikely we will have evidence of it until it is a nearly done deal. Diveistures and acquisitions are usually done in a HIGHLY confidential nature. If they are in negotiations to sell an asset, we won't know about it ahead of time, unless we get it from rumor and innuendo from someone who is (or claims to be or claims to know) someone on the inside. Most of the MA&D work I did was exploritory in nature - nothing ever came of it and you wouldn't know that we had been trying to find a buyer for something for years.

Another misconception on this thread is that you wouldn't sell something profitable. We sold profitable business units all the time. For instance Alpo Petfoods was sold to Purina while I worked for Grand Met - it simply didn't fit into the portfolio we wanted to have and we felt we could use the money gained by selling Alpo to buy companies (Old El Paso) that fit our portfolio better.

I do not know if there is any truth to the rumor, but the arguements people are making to disprove it (the company is profitable and we would know) don't make any sense to me from my own (rather limited and dated) experience.

 

[Richyams]

I agree completely. There is no way anyone but serious insiders would have any knowledge of this till it is a done deal and publically announced.

Unless goofy2 is Roy Disney just trying to stir the pot, this has no merit at all.

I will also apologize in the extremely remote case that this is true.

 

[childsplay]

Crisi hit on the point I was going to make.....the arguments that this isn't happening because we (as owners) would have heard of it, or because it would have been announced is on the opposite end of the spectrum from how this would actually play out (were it to play out).

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by childsplay
Crisi hit on the point I was going to make.....the arguments that this isn't happening because we (as owners) would have heard of it, or because it would have been announced is on the opposite end of the spectrum from how this would actually play out (were it to play out).

That's fine...but the OP still has not offered up more of an explanation on his/her source, or why they believe this to be true. "VB is going to be sold" and "You are going to owe me an apology" aren't hard enough evidence to give merit to these statements. Could it be true? Maybe, but doubtful....

I agree with Nick- I have to question the validity of someone who registers for the obvious sole intent of posting that Vero Beach has been sold, knowing that there are many Vero owners here who have a substantial interest in this information.

 

[childsplay]

Originally posted by anniet
the OP still has not offered up more of an explanation on his/her source, or why they believe this to be true. "VB is going to be sold" and "You are going to owe me an apology" aren't hard enough evidence to give merit to these statements. Could it be true? Maybe, but doubtful....

I absolutley agree with you. I apologize for not making that clear. I also believe the OP needs to provide more details in order to lend credibility to their acertion that VB is on the selling blocks.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Crisi is absolutely right! My DH works for a major international company who is divesting the division he is in. They will not know anything about WHO, what or when until it is a done deal. This is one of the most financiall successful divisions of this company, and that is EXACTLY why they are divesting it! It is the easiest to get the most from.

 

[crisi]

Not that I'm gullible - I'd rather this information come with someone with a track record on this board who has proven to have foreknowledge in the past instead of someone with two posts - but if Goofy50 is in the position to know this, he is very likely divulging confidential information. He either works for or knows someone who works for Disney, the purchasing company, or a 3rd party hired to advise on the transaction (like Ernst and Young or a law office). If this is going down, and they figure out who he is, he will likely lose his job and could even face criminal charges. Its unfair to ask him to prove himself - and he couldn't - if he came and annouced he was a tax analyst at Disney and had just done the tax impact anaysis for the sale we still wouldn't believe him. The only way to see if there is truth here is to wait - and even then - we will only know if something happens - its possible that there is a pending deal that will fall through before it is annouced.

You need to take this for what it is - a rumor on the internet from someone you don't know who hasn't posted here before. And Goofy50 should know better than to post this if he is in a position to know. But some people like to stir the pot - and others can't keep their mouth shut when they should. Goofy50 is one or the other - which we may never know.

 

[dianeschlicht]

You'r right, Crisi, and I have a tendancy to not believe it. We haven't heard any more from him, so I am quite sure he is a fraud. (read troll)

 

[donald@home]

I find this rumor highly unlikely and not because "we would have heard something" or "it is profitable for Disney so why would they sell".

Vero Beach is an integral part of a succesful product. Why would they break up this product and risk allienating all of the Vero owners who purchased and were looking forward to using their points at the other DVC properties, and also allienating the people who bought at other DVC properties and were planning on also using their points to stay at Vero. To me that doesn't make sense*. Could Disney really be that blind? Now, if Disney were to sell ALL of DVC (which I could see them doing...) and the new owner did something with the offsite resorts, well, that would be different.

*(Of course MANY things Disney has done in the past few years doesn't make sense to me either... so who knows...)

 

[dianeschlicht]

I don't think they would necessarily care if they alienated folks.

Now, if Disney were to sell ALL of DVC (which I could see them doing...) and the new owner did something with the offsite resorts, well, that would be different.

I totally agree with that statement! I think it would be highly more likely than just selling off one resort.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I don't really think the Vero resort would be worth all that much money. After all, it is esentially sold out, so the profits from sales are over. A new owner may collect a few bucks on management fee, but that is really peanuts. They could possibly make a few more bucks if Disney sold them the outstanding mortgages, but again I don't think that is enough to pay Disney a wad of loot for this resort.
-- Just my opinion...

MG

 

[rocketriter]

Well, maybe it will happen and maybe it won't. The only thing we can be sure of is that next month somebody will refer to this thread as "proof" that it will happen.

 

[lenshanem]

What if a new owner tried to expand the resort and add more amenities? That would make it more appealing to a buyer?

(Kinda like the VB that was supposed to be, but never was?)

 

[ClarabelleCow]

but if Vero was the way it was supposed to be, I don't think it would be as nice and quaint. I'm kind of glad its the size it is!!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Yes, but I believe Disney sold much or most of the land (not entirely sure, though).

MG

 

[goofy50]

Funny how everyone says I am a fraud! Rich Hyams can bash Vero Beach Resort all day long making accusations about Disney's selling practices with NO PROOF but that is ok. What a joke. Anyway, the new development that I would like to report is that Hilton Head resort is going to be part of the deal in the sale, so it looks like both resorts may be sold now.

Stay Tuned.

 

[Macnjac87]

Yes, and they are throwing in the Brooklyn Bridge along with VB and HH.

 

[chris1gill]

The plot THICKENS.....

One thing is sure, if they do sell, we'll know sometime! No sense in asking questions we can't know the answers to....

Regardless, if Marriott were to buy either or both of these resorts, you'd be a Marriott owner & that in itself has some nice perks... BUT Marriott already has beach front villa's at HH, so I can't imagine that Marriott would even consider buying Disney's HH resort...

Originally posted by goofy50
Funny how everyone says I am a fraud! Rich Hyams can bash Vero Beach Resort all day long making accusations about Disney's selling practices with NO PROOF but that is ok. What a joke. Anyway, the new development that I would like to report is that Hilton Head resort is going to be part of the deal in the sale, so it looks like both resorts may be sold now.

Stay Tuned.