Auction of Dubai luxury hotel Palazzo Versace stopped by court order

Dubai: The auction process for the luxury Dubai hotel Palazzo Versace has been suspended through a court order – just over 24 hours before the bidding process would have closed.

It was late last week that the hotel property had been put up for auction, with bidders getting a 5-day window to make their approaches. The base price was set at Dh1.34 billion.

Until the auction was stopped, the property had not received any bids. Typically, based on past auction, bids get placed closer to the actual closing of the process.

Through the last four days, the Palazzo Versace Dubai auctioning process was one of the most keenly watched. Behind the scenes, there had been talks featuring potential investors on whether it made sense for them to bid now – or adopt a wait-and-watch. Given the latest development with the court order, it made sense for any potential bidder to see what will happen next.

In the recent past, there had been talk in the market about the hotel being a takeover target. But none of that ever came to fruition, which is why when it turned up in an auction, it managed to generate quite a bit of buzz.