By Tiago Prata news@algarveresident.com
The new administration of the Quinta do Vale Golf Resort, located on the banks of the River Guadiana in Castro Marim, wants to regenerate the company through the creation of a single brand for the Lower Guadiana and by renegotiating its loans with the bank that funded the project.
After filing for the company’s insolvency three months ago (due to existing debts to the bank that has financed the project from the beginning), the new resort administrator Angel Losada told Lusa news agency that those two main goals will be fundamental to rescue the project and generate wealth in an area of the Algarve that offers “little more than golf and beach”.
Losada said: “With the global crisis, the real estate market is driving us all to bankruptcy. Projects are worth a lot, the investment has been done, but if demand drops so steeply, there is no way to pay back bank loans.”
The founder of the golf course designed by the late Spanish golfer and entrepreneur Seve Ballesteros, Angel Losada assumed control of the Quinta do Vale project to try to revitalise the resort which is set in a stunning location on the Portuguese shore of the River Guadiana.
He admits he has been surprised at the intransigence he is facing when attempting to renegotiate the debts related to the real estate part of the project – property sales have virtually stopped because of the recession, he admitted.
Losada continued: “The bank must understand that the majority of the investment is already done. It doesn’t make any sense, when we’re only a few years away from seeing (economic) growth again, to compromise all this patrimony that can generate wealth.”
The administrator wondered if the higher rank managers of the bank know about the position of local managers, hinting that someone “at a middle level” would be interested in Quinta do Vale, so it could then aggregate the resort to other nearby golf courses financed by the same banking institution, Losada told Lusa.
He claimed: “We (Quinta do Vale), Castro Marim Golf and Monte Rei were all financed by the same bank, and we are all under the same pressure,” but he reiterated his hope to see a restructuring plan approved, foreseeing extended repayment deadlines and benefitting from lower interest rates.
|| Working together to raise profile of Guadiana
Joining forces with other golf course managers in the Eastern Algarve, Angel Losada is now working on a brand that changes the idea of direct competition between the golf resorts and instead brings them together in order to encourage more visitors to the Lower Guadiana area.
He added: “It can be called Sotavento or Guadiana but the most important thing is to create the brand which will identify us all over the world, just as happens with Quinta do Lago, Vale do Lobo or Vilamoura, which are our real competitors.”
To support this effort, Losada is releasing to the market special packages that ensure golfers play at the various golf courses in the area. This way they can spend a week in the same area but playing on several different courses. He realises golfers enjoy to take on new challenges and diversifying the golf offer is likely to be a winning strategy.
