In a joint venture between private equity real estate fund managers, UK-based Benson Elliot and US-based Walton Street Capital, L.L.C., along with a partnership with Algonquin SA, a pan-European hotel portfolio valued at €420 million has been acquired.
The portfolio, which comprises eight prime hotels in seven major cities across five countries, was purchased out of another joint venture, Host Hotels & Resorts Inc’s ‘the vendor’.
There are a total of 2,308 rooms in the eight freehold properties throughout Venice, Paris, Milan, Rome, Warsaw, Nuremberg and Brussels. All located adjacent to key demand generators, either in metropolitan city centres, high-growth commercial corridors or leisure destinations.
Assets for the portfolio have benefited greatly from the substantial investments received in recent years and in its assembly, between 2006 and 2011, it has been highly profitable with strong cashflow.
Senior Partner at Benson Elliot, Trish Barrigan, commented: “This is a significant transaction for Benson Elliot, concluded with trusted partners like Algonquin, who we worked closely with on our Novotel Edinburgh Park investment.
“The portfolio is of exceptionally high quality, with opportunities to grow income and value in a sector attracting increasing attention from investors.”
Robert Bloom, the Senior Principal at Walton Street, added: “This portfolio represents a high-quality collection of full-service branded assets that is being acquired at both an attractive yield and significant discount to replacement cost, at what we believe is an opportunistic point in the investment cycle.
“We are excited about this transaction and look forward to working with our JV partners, Benson Elliot and Algonquin, to maximize value.”
This is the list of assets in the portfolio:
CEO at Algonquin, Jean-Philippe Chomette, said: “The inherent quality of each asset in this portfolio, their prime locations and the first class operators of these hotels will help us further optimize their value through material refurbishment programs and enhanced operational efficiencies.”
Advising the JV on the transaction was Paul Hastings and Deloitte.
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