9 August, 2019
Baker McKenzie assisted Wyndham Vacation Clubs Asia Pacific with its recent acquisition of privately held Resort Frontier Co. Ltd., the management company for Sundance Resort Club, a point-based vacation club with over 11,000 members and 16 resort destinations in Japan. The acquisition also sees Wyndham Vacation Clubs Asia Pacific purchase the balance of Sundance Resort Club’s unsold inventory.
The Baker McKenzie team was led by Chris Hodgens, a partner in the Real Estate Group in Tokyo. He was capably supported by Seishi Ikeda — also a partner in this group — and Byron Frost, Foreign Senior Associate in the Corporate M&A Group and other lawyers from the Corporate M&A and Real Estate Groups.
The acquisition marks the groundbreaking entry into the vacation club market in Japan of Wyndham Vacation Clubs – the vacation ownership division of the world’s largest vacation ownership and exchange companyWyndham Destinations(NYSE:WYND) and expands Wyndham Vacation Clubs Asia Pacific’s managed resort portfolio to 69 properties across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, Thailand, Hawaii, Europe and now Japan.
Commenting on the transaction, Chris Hodgens said, "We are delighted to have been able to assist the Wyndham Vacation Clubs Asia Pacific team with this groundbreaking transaction. One of our specialties is assisting our cross-border clients with first-time entry into the Japanese market through acquisitions — particularly in the hospitality sector — and we are pleased to have been able to assist Wyndham Vacation Clubs in this regard."
