Press Release: Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C.
September 6, 2001
TOKYO -- Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. announced today that Michael F. Glennie, formerly Senior Vice President, Resort
Operations, of Boca Resorts, Inc., is joining Ripplewood as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ripplewood
Lodging and of the Phoenix/Seagaia Resort companies at the end of September. Mr. Glennie will be based in Japan,
with offices in Tokyo and Miyazaki.
As previously announced, Ripplewood expects to complete its acquisition of the Seagaia and Phoenix Resort properties
in Miyazaki, Kyushu Island, around the middle of September. The properties are being acquired from the Trustee
under a rehabilitation plan which was approved by the Miyazaki District Court on August 3.
``Michael Glennie brings to Ripplewood a wealth of experience gained in a 25-year career managing the Boca Raton
Resort & Club in Florida, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City and the Rockresorts group. He is a consummate
hotel professional and an outstanding business leader. Michael has a strong record of successfully implementing
major facilities investment programs and achieving significant operating and financial improvements at world-class
resort and hotel properties. We are very excited that Michael will be working with us to lead the turnaround of
the Seagaia Resort and to build our Japan-based hotel and resort business throughout the Pacific Rim,'' said Timothy
C. Collins, Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ripplewood.
``With its convenient location, excellent weather, high quality assets and world-class golf, we are committed to
making Seagaia one of the great resorts of the Asia-Pacific Region,'' stated Mr. Glennie. ``We firmly believe that,
with additional investment in lodging and themed recreational amenities, Seagaia can be repositioned as an exciting
destination with a considerably broader market appeal.
``We expect that Seagaia will become the foundation property for a major hotel and resort group based in Japan,''
added Mr. Glennie. ``More vacation and leisure time is the number one purchase objective of Japanese consumers
as reflected in several recent polls. I am looking forward with enthusiasm to assembling an outstanding portfolio
of leisure and travel properties to fulfill that demand.''
Michael F. Glennie has been Senior Vice President, Resort Operations, of Boca Resorts, Inc. since 1998 and has
been President of Boca Raton Resort & Club since 1987. At Boca Resorts, he oversaw the operation of six resorts
with over 3,000 rooms and multiple golf courses, beach and marina operations, the development and construction
of a major new convention center and a 30,000 square foot spa. He was recently honored as ``Independent Hotelier
of the Year'' by Hotels Magazine. Prior to moving to Boca Raton, he was manager of the legendary Waldorf-Astoria
in New York City and spent 10 years in various executive management positions at Rockresorts.
Seagaia Resort is situated in a historic 750-acre pine forest that extends over 10 kilometers along the Pacific
Ocean coast just outside the City of Miyazaki. Its 99 holes of world-class golf include the Phoenix Country Club,
a 27-hole course generally ranked among the top two golf courses in Japan and the site of the annual Dunlop Phoenix
Tournament, which is scheduled to take place this year on November 8 through 11. The golf assets also include the
18-hole Tom Watson Golf Course, located in similar seaside pine forest terrain, the nearby Phoenix Kogen Country
Club, with two superb 18-hole courses laid out over rolling hills overlooking Miyazaki, and the Kitago Phoenix
Country Club, located high in the rugged mountains just south of Miyazaki. The Seagaia Resort also includes the
deluxe 753-room Hotel Ocean 45, an impressive steel, marble and glass tower adjacent to the seaside golf courses,
the nearby 296-room Sun Hotel Phoenix, the mountaintop Hotel Kitago Phoenix, the 5,000-seat World Convention Center
Summit, the Ocean Dome marine park and recreation center and many other lodging and recreational assets.
Resting on the same latitude as Savannah, Georgia, and Marrakech, Morocco, Miyazaki is served by the modern Miyazaki
International Airport, which is only 10 km from the Resort and has dozens of daily flights from all major cities
of Japan as well as scheduled and chartered flights from Korea, Taiwan, and elsewhere around the Asia/Pacific region.
Renowned for its warm, sunny climate ideal for year-around outdoor activities, Miyazaki is less than a two-hour
flight from a population of well over 200 million people.
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Contact:
For Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C.
Kekst and Company
Jeffrey Taufield / David Lilly
212/521-4800