Château Montebello bidders given final chance to improve offers
Court-appointed receiver extends revised bid deadline to June 26. Final selection expected by July 10 as Andlauer-led group competes for iconic resort.
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Prospective owners of Château Montebello have been asked to "put their best foot forward" to revise and improve their offers to purchase the iconic 211-room resort and its 21-hectare property on the north shore of the Ottawa River in Montebello, Quebec.
Qualified bidders were originally given until May 13 to submit binding offers. The announcement of the winning bid was initially expected June 9, but that window was extended to June 22 after news leaked that Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer and Devcore Group CEO Jean-Pierre Poulin had formed a local "all-star" group bidding for the hotel.
On June 19, court-appointed receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers informed bidders that "no binding offer has been selected at this time." The new deadline for phase 3 is June 26 at noon, with the final successful bid selection to be made "by no later than" July 10 at 5 p.m.
Poulin, part of a group with Andlauer and Le Nordik spa founder Martin Paquette along with two unnamed real-estate entrepreneurs, has said it makes "perfect sense" for a local ownership group to purchase the property. "I hope that they're going to think it through and that, if it's not us, it's a group like us that are doing this for the right reasons," Poulin said, noting the importance of keeping Fairmont as the hotel's operator.
The resort was put up for sale in 2024 after Hong Kong-based real-estate conglomerate China Evergrande was ordered to liquidate $245 billion in worldwide assets as part of bankruptcy proceedings. Known as the world's largest log cabin, Château Montebello opened July 1, 1930, and has hosted major international events including a NATO conference, a Bilderberg congress, and the 1981 G7 meeting.