The panel handling the rehabilitation of the scandal-tainted Seibu Railway Co. group is considering selling or closing the group's 85 hotels and resort facilities to reduce debts, sources said Tuesday.
The move would affect nearly half the group's 170 facilities, including the Tokyo Prince Hotel Park Tower scheduled to open next month and a number of hotels and resort facilities in and outside Japan.
A final report announced Friday by the panel, headed by Ken Moroi, an adviser to Taiheiyo Cement Corp., calls for selling 200 billion yen worth of the group assets to cut its debts and strengthen its financial standing. The report did not specify the number of facilities that would be sold or shut down.
The panel initially sought the sale and closure of 53 money-losing hotels and other facilities, but found they would only be worth about 100 billion yen, the sources said. Some profitable facilities have been added to the list, they said.
The group will finalize the decision on the 85 facilities after Takashi Goto, a former vice president of Mizuho Corporate Bank, takes the presidency of Seibu Railway in May and launches a new management team, they said.
The facilities under consideration for sale include Makuhari Prince Hotel in Chiba Prefecture, Sapporo Kitahiroshima Prince Hotel in Hokkaido with its golf course and ski resort, Shizukuishi Prince Hotel in Iwate Prefecture, Yuzawa-Nakazato ski resort in Niigata Prefecture, and the Yokohama Prince Hotel.