A sports hotel in Surinam?

This teaching case describes the situation faced by a decision-maker who represents the investment vehicle of an “old money” family. Although the hotel investment proposal he has to judge seems sympathetic, straightforward and with minor money inflows needed, the representative becomes increasingly worried when viewing social-economic events locally in the developing country of Surinam in South America. The case boils down into how foreign exchange rate levels may affect the economic feasibility of the proposal then.

In order to let bygones be bygones, no permission for publication was asked from anyone. Instead, one actual case was taken as a base and two others were mixed with it, in order to disguise actual circumstances. Early 2016 events in Surinam fit in very well though, as do subsequent events in 2020 and 2021. This keeps the case exemplary at the time of writing and helpful to understand comparable situations that students may be confronted with.