At the beginning of March, it was announced that Hilton Grand Vacations was to purchase Diamond Resorts International from Apollo Global Management. The deal is expected to be finalised by the summer of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
In June 2016 it was announced that Apollo Global Management had purchased Diamond Resorts for $2.2 billion, this at the time created quite a stir among Diamond members in the US.
The latest news is that Hilton Grand Vacations are paying $1.4 billion, which is very much lower than what Apollo originally paid.
Diamond Resorts are one of the largest independent timeshare developers and the combination of HGV with their strong brand and culture is set to become a very large force in the world of timeshare.
But what does this mean for Diamond members who have purchased in Spain and have contracts which are illegal under Spanish Timeshare law?
Currently, CLA has 88 cases in the courts, with 16 cases in preparation and pending filing with the courts. So far we have received one ruling against Diamond by the Supreme Court back in January 2019, since then Diamond has filed six appeals to the Supreme Court following their losing on appeal to the High Court. In all these cases the Supreme Court dismissed and rejected the appeals, this has also included the Diamond cases on jurisdiction where they claim their contracts are subject to UK Law and the jurisdiction of the UK Courts.
Supreme Court Ruling January 2019
Diamond cases on our website
As you can see from the above Diamond appeals have been dismissed by the High Courts and Spains highest court has been refusing to accept any further timeshare cases, after all, they have made 130 rulings on these matters and are not about to change their judgements.
At present, there is no indication that the purchase of Diamond by HGV will have any impact on any future claims or claims which are currently being conducted in the courts. So as far as our present and future clients are concerned they are in safe hands regarding their claims.
It should also be pointed out that under Spanish law, any company that takes over another company also takes on all liabilities and incumbencies of that company. It is also envisaged that the Diamond Resorts brand will continue albeit under new ownership, so there is not likely to be any change in the litigation process.
In fact, it may just be beneficial to those clients as the Hilton brand has a very good reputation and its target consumers are at the high end of the vacation industry. It is very doubtful if Hilton will want to tarnish that reputation.
It may also mean that cases will be dealt with much quicker, as at the present time, Diamond Resorts continues to delay proceedings by their continual use of the various appeals processes.
This is also very costly and it would be difficult to see Hilton continuing with this policy considering they are a publicly listed company and appear on the New York Stock Exchange, this means they are ultimately accountable to their shareholders. We have seen this with Marriott who have been legally obliged to report the losses and possible future losses in Spanish litigation in their annual reports to shareholders, a point which Hilton Grand Vacations will also have to comply with.
We at CLA would also like to warn all our present Diamond and potential Diamond clients to aware that there will be some of the more unscrupulous “claims” companies, who will use the news of the HGV buyout of Diamond to “scare” members into relinquishing and taking out claims immediately.
If you are contacted with any “scare” stories please contact Canarian Legal Alliance and we will give you the facts.
Hilton Grand Vacations Resort Las Vegas