Going once...Going twice...Sold!

By : ALEX DÍAZ

alex@casiano.com; cbprdigital@gmail.com

Edition: August 15, 2013 | Volume: 41 | No: 31

Normandie sells at auction to Houston’s Interra Capital; $40 million+renovation coming

The latest chapter in the long saga of the 173-room Normandie Hotel has ended—or shall we say begun—last

Friday with the closing of the property's sale for an undisclosed amount to Houston-based Interra Capital

Group.

The sale was the result of an innovative auction process brokered by the New York City office of global

hospitality advisory firm CBRE Hotels, and the Puerto Rico office of commercial real estate firm, NAI

Global.

"We were particularly proud to be instrumental in this transaction because of what the Normandie means to

the fortunes of the tourism industry in Puerto Rico," said NAI Puerto Rico Business Director Héctor Aponte.

Interra will renovate the hotel at a cost of more than $40 million, he added. With CBRE's help, Interra is

also in talks with several big-name hotel management companies to operate the property in San Juan's

Puerta de Tierra sector.

– Caribbean Business Newspaper

Plan Ahead, Work ahead, and close de deal.

“When you get to the closing table things must be already decided and all parties should be aligned to close the deal,” asserts Hector Aponte, SIOR,

As Aponte observes, “the broker is responsible for outlining all the terms and giving the lawyer all the information. If information is missing it slows the process. That’s a difficult situation because time can kill a deal.”

– SIOR Magazine, Author: Steve Bergsman

Bayer Puerto Rico restructures local operations

By : JAIME SANTIAGO

jaimes@caribbeanbusinesspr.com; cb.pr@gmail.com

Edition: November 8, 2012 | Volume: 40 | No: 44

Focus is now on its core businesses, selling well-known brands, servicing local customer base

Bayer Puerto Rico, the local subsidiary of the global healthcare, agricultural and high-tech materials giant has contracted the services of César Castillo Inc. (CCI) as its third-party logistics (3PL) service provider.In a bold move, the company closed its warehouse and distribution center in Río Piedras and will concentrate its efforts on sales, administration and customer service. "We want to focus on our core business," Francisco Quirós, Bayer's senior operations manager in Puerto Rico, told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS in an exclusive interview. "This decision will allow the company to grow its business and customer base. Distribution and warehousing is a complete, different operation than selling products and servicing customers; we want to focus on the latter." To better serve its local customers by supplying its impressive product line, which include such household-brand names as Bayer aspirin, Alka-Seltzer, and One a Day and Flintstones vitamins, the company is moving its sales and administrative operations to a new state-of-the art, 6,000-square-foot location in Guaynabo.

"Bayer's new offices reflect the company's commitment to the local market," said Héctor Aponte, business

director for NAI Puerto Rico, the local office of NAI Global—a network of independent commercial real-estate

firms and the broker in the transaction.

– Caribbean Business Newspaper

Extreme leadership

By : ALEX DÍAZ

alex@casiano.com; cb.pr@gmail.com

Edition: December 6, 2012 | Volume: 40 | No: 48

In fact, Aponte is smiling quite a bit lately. After 15 years of building a growing practice as a commercial real-estate broker, he recently became the top Puerto Rico executive of real estate giant NAI Global. The company's game-changing entry into Puerto Rico cements Aponte's rise to a leadership position in the local market. He had already amassed a roster of clients that would be the envy of any competitor, running the gamut of the island's industries—banking, manufacturing, retail, food & beverage, advertising, services, you name it.

– Caribbean Business Newspaper