Hotel news and transactions from around the European region: Ares Management and EQ acquire 21-hotel UK portfolio, Meridia Capital acquires former Hotel Presidente in Ibiza and more...

Ares Management and EQ acquire 21-hotel UK portfolio from Landsec
Landsec, the UK’s largest commercial property development and investment company, has disposed of its entire hotel portfolio, comprising 21 Novotel and Ibis hotels, in a deal with global investment manager Ares Management and pan-European hotel investor and operator EQ Group. The purchase price was £400 million (£132,000 per room), of which £50 million is deferred for up to two years subject to an interest rate of 6%. The 21 hotels were all subject to long-term leases to AccorInvest that were not due to expire until 2091, with 12-yearly, tenant-only break clauses. AccorInvest agreed to surrender the leases to the purchasers, which resulted in Ares and EQ ultimately acquiring 18 hotels comprising 3,028 keys. London is home to the majority of the portfolio’s value, with the rest being held in cities such as Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester. With a £404 million book value in September 2023 and £28.4 million of net income during the latest reported financial year, this disposal will see Landsec reduce its LTV by over three points, down from 34.4% in September 2023, and release strategic capital to focus on areas it deems it has a competitive advantage in.

KKR and Amante acquire Park Grand London Kensington from Bartek
International investment firm KKR, through its REPE II fund and in partnership with London-based Amante Capital, has acquired the four-star, 132-room Park Grand London Kensington in London, UK, from Bartek Holdings. The hotel includes a restaurant, bar, meeting space and a fitness room. Located in the Kensington borough, to the south-west of Hyde Park, the hotel is set to be fully refurbished and resume trading under Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio brand. Amante is expected to take over the management of the asset. The REPE II fund, which closed in Q2 2021 at $2.2 billion, targets opportunistic and value-add investments in the western European real estate market. Amante was founded in 2022 and its scope includes hotel acquisitions, asset management and operations.

Meridia Capital acquires former Hotel Presidente in Ibiza from Oak Hill Advisors
Spanish private equity firm Meridia Capital, led by CEO Javier Faus and through its Meridia V fund, has acquired the former three-star, 270-room, Hotel Presidente in Portinatx on the Balearic Island of Ibiza, Spain, from New-York-based alternative investor Oak Hill Advisors (OHA). The asset was reportedly valued at approximately €30 million (€111,000 per room). The hotel, located on the northern tip of the island around 2 kilometres from the Six Senses Ibiza, is roughly 40 minutes by car from the island’s airport. Having acquired the property in 2018, OHA had secured approval to reposition the asset into a five-star hotel through a €20 million (€74,000 per room) refurbishment programme, however, this plan was never carried out. Meridia is now expected to execute this vision and lead the redevelopment, which will see the hotel reduce its number of rooms to 225 and target leading BREEAM and LEED sustainability certifications.

Geiger and i Live sell Rioca Stuttgart Posto 6 aparthotel in Germany to family office
A JV between German developer Geiger Unternehmensgruppe and German micro-living specialist i Live group has sold the four-star, 157-room Rioca Stuttgart Posto 6 aparthotel in Stuttgart, Germany, to an undisclosed family office. The hotel is located in the southern suburb of Moehringen, some 15 minutes by car from Stuttgart airport. The newly-built aparthotel sits on a 4,500 sqm plot and was finalised in Q1 2024 after a near two-year development period. Key features include an underground 30-spot car park, a 200 sqm rooftop terrace and an in-house bar. The room sizes range from 24 sqm to 32 sqm. Rioca is the business and leisure aparthotel brand of the i Live group, which also includes residential apartments. The brand currently has six properties across Germany and Austria, with three new properties in the pipeline, two of which are set to open in Q3 2024.

Uno acquires two country hotels in South-East England
British owner-operator Uno Hotels, led by Vijay Singh Bhandari, has acquired the three-star, 52-room The Hickstead hotel in Bolney, and the four-star, 40-room Grovefield House Hotel in Burnham, both of which are located in the south-east of England. Bolney is situated near Hayward’s Heath around 70 kms south of central London, while Burnham is around an hour’s drive west of central London. Both hotels include a bar, restaurant and meeting space. Prior to this acquisition, Uno Hotel’s portfolio consisted of three properties, all in the south-east of England, including the Uno Hotel Heathrow Windsor, the Best Western Ealing Northfields Hotel in London, and the Rose and Crown Hotel in Tonbridge, Kent.

Azora acquires hostels in Dublin and Barcelona from BlackRock
Madrid-based investment firm Azora, through their Azora European Hotel & Lodging Fund (AEHL), has acquired the two-star, 412-bed Jacobs Inn Dublin in Ireland and the two-star, 149-bed Jacobs Inn Barcelona in Spain, from a European fund managed by BlackRock. The price was undisclosed. Currently operated by Siggis Capital, the assets have been sold unencumbered and are expected to be operated by Madrid-based hostel specialist Latroupe, which is owned by the AEHL fund. This acquisition marks Azora’s first entry into Ireland, and follows its purchase of two hotels in Brussels last month (April 2024). BlackRock acquired the Jacobs Inn Dublin in early 2020 for approximately €30 million (€73,000 per bed) from Patron Capital. Azora’s hospitality and leisure portfolio comprises approximately €4.2 billion in assets under management in the USA and nine key western and southern European markets, totalling over 26,600 rooms across more than 100 assets.

Leonardo Hotels acquires Hotel Cicerone in Rome from Banco BPM
Leonardo Hotels, the European division of Israel’s Fattal Hotel Group, has acquired the four-star, 292-room Hotel Cicerone Roma in the Italian capital from domestic bank Gruppo Banco BPM for a reported €70 million (€240,000 per room). The city-centre hotel comprises eight floors which house a restaurant and bar, a courtyard terrace, and meeting rooms able to accommodate 100 guests. Following refurbishment, the hotel is set to resume trading in early 2025 as the NYX Hotel Rome by Leonardo Hotels under the group’s lifestyle concept brand. The brand currently has twelve hotels across major European cities such as London, Madrid and Prague, and is already established in Italy with its NYX Hotel Milan property. Fattal Hotel Group’s full portfolio comprises some 270 hotels totalling 48,000 rooms across 20 European countries and Israel.

OD Group sells Ocean Drive Barcelona
Spanish owner operator OD Group, led by CEO and Founder Marc Rahola Matutes, has sold the five-star, 98-bed Ocean Drive Barcelona in Spain for a reported €55 million (€561,000 per room), to a confidential eastern European investment firm. Situated in the city-centre of Barcelona within a short walk of the Sagrada Familia and Placa de Catalunya, the hotel was purchased by the OD Group in 2015 for approximately €20 million (€204,000 per room), after which it underwent renovations until its opening in 2017. With this disposition, the OD Hotels brand is left with five hotels across Spain, including three on the Balearic island of Ibiza, one in Madrid and one in Seville.

Turenne sells Hotel Mercure Lyon Centre Chateau Perrache to Sohoma
French investment firm Turenne Hotellerie, through its Turenne Hotellerie 2 fund, has sold the four-star, 120-room Hotel Mercure Lyon Centre Chateau Perrache in Lyon, France, to French hotel group Sohoma, for over €24 million (€200,000 per room). Located within five minutes’ walk from the main Lyon train station, the hotel comprises over 10,000 sqm of floor area. The heritage monument building was constructed in 1904, and recently underwent refurbishment to meet higher sustainability standards. Established in 2012, Turenne Hotellerie currently has a portfolio of 26 hotels across France and primarily targets urban centres, with an investment horizon of 6 to 9 years.

Francam Invest acquires Hotel Monsieur in Paris
French real estate investment firm Francam Invest, led by its president Jean-Marc Pommier, has acquired the four-star, 31-room Hotel Monsieur in Paris, France, from an undisclosed seller. The purchase price is understood to have been agreed somewhere between €10 – 15 million (€323,000 - €484,000 per room). Located in the 8th district, the hotel is a ten-minute walk from the Palais Garnier and the Place de la Concorde. The acquisition comes as Paris awaits the start of the 2024 Olympic Games in July.

Extendam and partners acquire Best Western Plus Hotel Villa d’Est in Strasbourg
French real estate investors Extendam, Hermann Immeubles and Atalante have acquired the four-star, 46-room Best Western Plus Hotel Villa d’Est in Strasbourg, France. Located in the northern part of the city centre and off the A35 highway, the hotel includes a bar, meeting rooms, a fitness centre and sauna. Following a light refurbishment program, the hotel will be managed by Atalante Hotels, who already own and operate 26 hotels totalling roughly 2,000 rooms across France and Italy. Extendam targets investments with a value-add opportunity, and this asset had been identified as having strong ESG improvement potential, with a target to achieve the Green Key label certificate.

Apex Hotels acquires Meldrum House Country Hotel in Scotland
Scottish owner-operator Apex Hotels has acquired the four-star, 51-room Meldrum House Country Hotel & Golf Course in Inverurie, Scotland, from businessmen Bob Edwards and the Buchan brothers. Located some 32 kilometres north from Aberdeen, Scotland’s third most populous city, the 800-year-old hotel includes four F&B outlets and an 18-hole, 6,000-metre long golf course. This acquisition marks Apex Hotels’ 10th property and follows the group's strategy to diversify its portfolio through rural investments, following its purchase of the four-star Pine Trees Hotel in Pitlochry, Scotland, in July 2023. Apex Hotels’ portfolio also includes four-star, city-centre hotels across London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Bath.

www.hvs.com