Two side-by-side properties in a prime Pembroke location are to have new owners.

West Hamilton Holdings Limited, the BSX-listed property holding company, announced that it has entered into an agreement and plan of merger with Princess West Limited, a local company limited by shares.

According to a legal advertisement placed in The Royal Gazette in January 2019, Princess West Limited was formed by Mitchell Green Private Trust Company as trustee of the Mitchell Green Family Trust.

The Mitchell Green Private Trust Company agent is Berco Ltd, which is the operating company of the Green Family who own the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

The property had been valued at between $26 million and $38 million in West Hamilton financial reports.

In a filing with the Bermuda Stock Exchange, West Hamilton said the move will result in the sale of 69 and 71 Pitts Bay Road, representing approximately 86 per cent of the company’s property assets.

Completion of the transaction is subject to several conditions including governmental approvals, West Hamilton said.

Michael Collier, chairman of the parent company, said: “We will update shareholders with full details of this merger once the necessary government approvals have been received and the transaction has completed.”

In West Hamilton’s 2021 annual report, Mr Collier said the land and building (69 Pitts Bay Road) and the construction in progress known as the car park (71 Pitts Bay Road) were valued by a chartered valuation surveyor at $37.7 million as at September 30, 2021.

A valuation of $12 million was allocated to 69 Pitts Bay Road, which is known as the Belvedere building, and a valuation of $25.7 million was allocated to 71 Pitts Bay Road.

He said the company’s valuation considers the undeveloped nature of the parking facility, the economic risks mentioned by the valuer and therefore assigned a value of $17.7 million for the parking facility.

This valuation is $8 million less than the valuer’s estimate and $3.9 million more than the valuation in 2020.

Mr Collier wrote: “The increase in $3 million in the valuation report compared to the prior year was due to the permission received from the Department of Planning for the company to build an eight-storey building on a section of the car parking facility, thereby improving the economic benefit of that portion of the property.”

Mr Collier added that the chartered valuation surveyor who valued the property in August 2021 estimated that the building, when completed and occupied, will be appraised more than the cost of construction as well as the land that will be used for the footprint of the building.

Mr Collier did not return a call seeking additional comment by press time.