Hotel industry and travel news from around the European region: Accor sells a another stake in AccorInvest, Pandox acquires seven hotels in Germany, Gross & Partner sells NH Collection Frankfurt and more... 

Pandox acquires seven hotels in Germany from HR Group
Swedish hotel investor Pandox AB has entered into an agreement with HR Group to acquire a 94.9% stake in seven hotels in Germany, for a combined price of €290 million (€189,000 per room, on average) excluding HR Group’s minority interest. The hotels are all operated by HR Group under Pullman, Mercure and Dorint franchise agreements, in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Bonn and Schweinfurt. The properties will continue to be managed by the seller under fixed leases indexed by 2% per annum, converting into 20-year, revenue-based leases with a minimum guarantee by 2024 at the latest. According to Pandox, the combined purchase price represents a yield of approximately 5.7%. The hotels are set to undergo a €20 million renovation, €5 million of which will be contributed by HR Group.

Archer Hotel Capital completes the acquisition of the Conrad Dublin
APG Group and GIC Real Estate’s joint hotel investment vehicle Archer Hotel Capital has completed the acquisition of the 192-room Conrad Dublin for €116.4 million (€606,000 per key) from a joint venture between Park Hotels & Resorts, Aviva and the Cashel Fund. The transaction is Archer’s first completed acquisition since its inception in December 2018. Renovated in 2017, the hotel will continue to be managed by Hilton under a long-term management contract.

Atream acquires the Club Med Les Arcs Panorama from developer Foncière des Alpes
French real estate investor Atream has acquired the 434-room Club Med Arc Les Arcs Panorama in the French ski region of Les Arcs from developer Foncière des Alpes for €116 million (€267,000 per key). The property opened in December 2018 and is operated by Club Med under a 12-year lease agreement. Foncière des Alpes, owned by a consortium of five French regional banks, is planning to use the proceeds from the sale to finance its development of another ski resort property, the Club Med in La Rosière.

The Ability Group acquires the Tamburlaine Hotel in Cambridge
UK-based real estate investor The Ability Group has acquired the 155-room Tamburlaine Hotel in Cambridge, UK, for approximately £55 million (£355,000 per room) from Irish owner-operator O’Callaghan Hotels. O’Callaghan originally bought the land and developed the property for £50 million and has managed the hotel since its opening in 2017. Post-acquisition, the hotel will be leased to the Dalata Group under a 30-year index-linked lease agreement, operated under their Clayton brand. The buyers plan to reconfigure the hotel’s layout and add an additional 5 rooms.

Accor sells a further 5.2% stake in AccorInvest
Paris-based hotel group Accor has announced that it agreed to sell a 5.2% stake in AccorInvest to several existing shareholders of the company for €204 million, valuing its real estate investment vehicle at €3.9 billion. This is 8% above the 2018 valuation of €3.6 billion, when Accor sold 64.8% of AccorInvest to a consortium of investors including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Colony Northstar, Credit Agricole Assurances and Amundi. The current transaction reduces Accor’s ownership in AccorInvest to 30%, which is the lock-up level agreed at the time of the initial sale, lasting until 2023.

AJ Capital Partners purchases two UK hotels from Macdonald Hotels
Chicago-based hotel owner-operator AJ Capital Partners has purchased the 70-room Macdonald Rusacks Hotel in St Andrews, Scotland, as well as the leasehold interest in the 151-room Macdonald Randolph Hotel in Oxford, England, from Macdonald Hotels. Both hotels are set to undergo extensive renovation, with the Macdonald Rusacks Hotel being extended by an additional 44 rooms. The announcement comes after Macdonald Hotels was reported to be selling its entire portfolio to a North American private equity group earlier this year, a deal which now has been abandoned in favour of selling just the two hotels. The buyer plans to convert both properties into its Graduate hotels brand, joining the Graduate Hotel Cambridge which it acquired in July this year.

Honotel acquires two hotels in Lyon, France
French hotel owner and operator Honotel is acquiring the 130-room Hotel Axotel Perrache and the 117-room Charlemagne Hotel, both in Lyon, France, from local hotelier and politician Roland Bernard for a reported €30 million (€121,000 per key, on average). Post-acquisition, both hotels will be operated by Honotel under its own independent brand.

Gross & Partner forward sells NH Collection Frankfurt Spin Tower, Germany
German real estate developer Gross & Partner has forward sold the 428-room NH Collection Frankfurt Spin Tower to a group of German pension funds, including the Doctors Pension Funds of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as the Lower Saxony Tax Consultants pension fund. The hotel is part of “The Spin” development, a 128-metre mixed-use tower which includes 20 floors for the hotel, as well as 10 floors of office space. Located in central Frankfurt in close proximity to the city’s main railway station, the hotel is set to open in mid-2022.

Generali Real Estate sells Ibis Hotel Verona to Fattal Hotels
Italian insurance group Generali has sold the 145-room Ibis Hotel Verona to Fattal Hotels. Fattal has also acquired the leasehold interest in the property from Accor, who have been operating the hotel under a lease contract since 1993. Fattal plans to close the hotel for an extensive renovation, and to reopen the property in 2020 under its Leonardo Hotels brand.

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