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By Ariba Shahid
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -Global real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has quit its role as financial adviser on the partial sale of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, which is owned by Pakistan International Airlines, to avoid client conflict of interest, Pakistan said on Thursday.
Pakistan is selling a minority stake in the hotel and looking for a redevelopment partner as it disposes of certain state assets under a privatisation programme agreed under a $7 billion IMF-backed reform plan.
"The heightened interest in Roosevelt Hotel from many of JLL’s own clients, post cancellation of its lease agreement with NYC, has put them in a compromising position,” Pakistan’s Privatization Commission said in a statement, adding the firm resigned to avoid any “perceived or actual” conflict of interest.
JLL’s exit will not derail the stake sale and a new adviser will be hired "on a fast track basis", the Commission said.
Earlier this month, a senior official told Reuters that Pakistan is eyeing at least a $1 billion valuation and is ready to part with a minority stake in the property as it scouts for a redevelopment partner.
The Roosevelt Hotel, a century-old property named after former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt near New York’s Grand Central Station, is one of Pakistan’s top foreign assets. It is up for sale alongside power distribution companies in Pakistan and other state firms including PIA.
The hotel was shut in 2020 due to losses and later leased to New York City as a migrant shelter. That lease ended earlier this year, and the property now sits vacant.