Shahid Khan Acquires Four Seasons Hotel Toronto

Aird & Berlis LLP is proud to have acted on behalf of Shahid Khan in his purchase of the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. Mr. Khan is the Forbes-listed founder of original automotive equipment manufacturer Flex-N-Gate Group and owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League and the historic London-based Fulham Football Club. Mr. Khan completed the purchase of 100 per cent ownership of the Four Seasons Hotel on September 30, 2016, from an affiliate of Kingdom Holding Company (“KHC”). Based in Saudi Arabia, KHC was founded and is chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who, together with Bill Gates’ Cascade and Isadore Sharp, owns Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

The purchase represents the largest single-asset price-per-room hotel transaction in Canadian history. Mr. Khan, through various family holdings, took immediate ownership of the hotel, which will continue to be managed by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The hotel’s prominent Yorkville location and proximity to the global headquarters of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Toronto makes this transaction a particularly important one for the hotel brand. 

The hotel purchase deepens Mr. Khan’s business roots in Canada, where Flex-N-Gate operates 11 of its 55 manufacturing plants in Ontario.

The team at Aird & Berlis LLP that represented Mr. Khan was led by Christie McNeill (Real Estate), together with Don West (Corporate), Barbara Worndl (Tax), Reena Kotecha and Aaron Baer (Corporate), Lisa Moreau (Competition), Aaron Silver (Real Estate), Lorenzo Lisi and Fiona Brown (Employment), Scott Stoll (Environmental), Ken Clark (Intellectual Property) and John Longo (Pensions).