Thomas Hutchison to join KSL Capital

KSL Capital Partners, a private equity real estate firm focused on the travel and leisure industry, has named Thomas Hutchison a senior advisor to the firm. Hutchison will also serve as a senior advisor to KSL Resorts, a KSL portfolio company that manages six resort properties.

Hutchison was most recently the chairman and chief executive officer of CNL Hotels & Resorts, a publicly traded hospitality REIT that was sold earlier this year to Morgan Stanley and Ashford Hospitality in a $6.6 billion (€5.0 billion) transaction. Prior to joining CNL’s parent company in 2000, Hutchison ran a number of real estate services and development companies, including Atlantic Realty Service, TJH Development and General Development Corporation.

In a statement, Michael Shannon, a managing director of KSL, called Hutchison “a true veteran of the real estate and hospitality industries.”

KSL Capital was founded in 2004 by Shannon and Eric Resnick, who previously worked together at KSL Recreation, a KKR portfolio company that made 15 investments in the travel and leisure industry. Last year, KSL raised just over $1 billion for its debut private equity real estate fund, KSL Capital Partners II. In December, the fund closed on the $1.8 billion acquisition of Clubcorp, which owns approximately 170 private golf clubs and more than 60 sports and business clubs across the US.

In addition to Hutchison, KSL has a board of “strategic advisors” who have played “active roles” in the activities of the firm or its predecessor companies, according to the firm’s website. Those advisors include: Patrick Cowell, the former president of retailer Williams-Sonoma; Fred Cox, a former general partner at developer Westcor; Paul Hazen, the former chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo; Larry Lichliter, a co-founder of KSL Recreation; Scott McInnis, a former congressman from Colorado; and Michael Tokarz, chairman of business development company MVC Capital and a former partner at KKR.