The Grand International Alliance Hotels Company was founded in England in 1863. The plan is to rebook hotel guests travelling between England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to hotels managed by the company. Other companies had already successfully used this system for travellers between England and France. The Grand International Alliance Hotels Company now wanted to expand this system with hotels in Belgium and the Netherlands.
To this end, the company purchased two hotels in Belgium, the Hotel Saint-Antoine in Antwerp and the Grand Hotel de Bellevue in Brussels. In the Netherlands, they wanted to operate hotels in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Due to the lack of first class hotels in these cities, it was decided to have them built themselves.
To support these projects, the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company has secured the support of two honorary commissioners of stature. In Amsterdam this is mayor, Mr. J. Mescchert van Vollenhoven, and in Rotterdam the consul of Great Britain and Ireland, Sir Robert Fraser Turing, based there.
The building plans in the Netherlands
In Rotterdam they planned to build a hotel next to the station of the Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij. This company had agreed to this plan, to which they would also cooperate fully. The director and vice president of the Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij, Mr. H. Ameshoff, is also a member of the supervisory board of the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company.
In Amsterdam there are concrete plans to build a hotel on a plot located between the Nieuwendijk and the Damrak. The plot includes the building in which the company Van Gend & Loos is located and the adjacent buildings.
These properties have been conditionally purchased by the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company. Mr. F.J. Loos, former member of the firm Van Gend & Loos, has been appointed as a supervisory director at the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company.
At the request of the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company, the English architect G. Somers Clarke made a design for the new hotel to be built. The design of this hotel on Dam Square was included in the prospectus with information about the share issue.
The issuance of the shares
The capital required for the implementation of the plans was to be obtained by issuing shares. Upon the establishment of the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company, the share capital is set at £300,000, divided into 12,000 shares of £25 each.
At an exchange rate of the English pound of approximately 12 guilders, the price per share was therefore about 300 guilders.
Investors were given the choice to pay for the shares in full immediately after the allotment or to pay the shares in full in a number of installments. The shareholders who immediately paid their shares in full received a share to bearer. The shareholders who paid the capital due in installments received a registered share after the first payment. Below a registered not fully paid up share and a share to bearer both issued at march 16, 1864.
The subscription of the shares was possible in the four countries in which the company wanted to become active. In the Netherlands, on 14 January 1864, registration was possible at the office of the European Bank in Amsterdam and at the office of the Chabot brothers in Rotterdam.
The interest in the shares in the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company is disappointing. In Amsterdam, 800 shares are subscribed for and in Rotterdam no more than 50 shares.
Due to this low level of interest, the plans for the construction of the hotels in the Netherlands are cancelled. A few weeks after the failed issue, the owners of the buildings on Dam Square are informed that the previously concluded provisional purchase agreement will be terminated.
The payment of dividends
In October 1864, the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company paid a dividend of £1.5 per paid-up share of £25. This dividend related to the results achieved up to the end of September. Converted on an annual basis, this is a dividend yield of 10%.
This interim dividend also seems to be intended to motivate the holders of the shares not paid in full to pay up their shares. Within a month of the dividend announcement, holders of not fully paid shares are called upon to contribute £5 to their share. The shareholders are also made aware of the possibility of paying up their shares in full. As a result, they would also be entitled to the entire dividend from now on.
As far as could be ascertained, the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company has not paid any further dividends.
The end of the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company
In April 1865 it is reported that the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company plans to establish a hotel in three grand buildings in Rotterdam.
However, the reservation is made that this will only take place if it is possible to arrange the financing. Apparently this did not succeed because nothing else has been heard about this plan either.
In August and September 1866, two extraordinary meetings were held in England, followed by two meetings for Dutch shareholders in October and November of 1866.
No further information was found on the decisions taken at these meetings. The fact that nothing more was heard about the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company after these meetings indicates that the company has been discontinued. At a securities auction in 1871, a share of the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company is sold for 50 cents.
A rare registered not fully paid up share
This not fully paid registered share is rare because the owner did not comply with the request to pay £5 before or on 7 December 1864. The owner of a non-paid-up share is obliged to pay up to the share at the request of the company. In the event of default, a debt arises for the shareholder that can be claimed by the company. In addition, the rights attached to the share such as attending meetings, voting rights or receiving dividends may be suspended.
The registered share does not contain any further information about any attempts to collect the debt. On the back of the share it is stated that the share was sold through a public auction on March 20, 1872. The proceeds list of the auction shows that a lot of four shares of the Grand International Alliance Hotels Company was sold for 2 guilders.
