Europe Hotel Transactions Bulletin

Following your feedback, our weekly newsletter is being refocused to concentrate on transactions. For the first edition in this new format, we provide a round-up of the key transactions reported since the beginning of 2018, with weekly transaction reports to follow.

HVS Hodges Ward Elliott Acts on Sale of Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh Caledonian to LuLu Group

Edinburgh’s landmark Caledonian Hotel, a Waldorf Astoria branded property, was sold to Twenty14 Holdings, part of the Abu Dhabi-based LuLu Group, for £85 million. At close to £350,000 per key, the sale set a new benchmark for the Scottish capital, with HVS Hodges Ward Elliott acting as joint agents with JLL.

HVS Hodges Ward Elliott Acts on Sale of Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Amsterdam Airport’s iconic new Hilton Hotel has been sold by its developers Schiphol Real Estate for €148 million, to Host Hotels & Resorts. The 433-room on-terminal hotel was completed in 2016, to replace the original 1960’s Hilton Schiphol that has now been demolished. The new hotel, featuring an iconic modern design, won the European Hotel Design Award for best new hotel in 2016. HVS Hodges Ward Elliott represented the seller in the transaction.

The last of Lone Star’s UK Amaris Portfolio sold to Israeli LRC Group

Lone Star has fully exited its Amaris Hotels portfolio, selling 25 Mercure and Hilton branded hotels to Israeli investors LRC Group for close to £600 million, representing an average price of approximately £150,000 per room. It was reported that the price represents a blended yield of around 7%.  The sale follows Lone Star’s disposal of the Jurys Inn brand to Swedish investor Pandox last December, and its sell-off of the ex-Puma 'Hotel Collection' in 2016/2017, netting a total of approximately £1.5 billion in the process.

Singapore’s First Sponsor buys into the Hilton Rotterdam

Hilton’s spin-off REIT Park Hotels & Resorts Inc completed its first asset disposal, selling the 254-room Hilton Rotterdam in the Netherlands for €50 million (€197,000 per key). The buyer consortium was led by First Sponsor Inc (acquiring 24.7%), which owns assets such as the Queens Bilderberg Portfolio and the Le Meridien Frankfurt, and included a number of Asian and Dutch high net worth investors.

Starwood Capital acquires UK portfolio from Park Hotels & Resorts

In Park Hotels & Resorts REIT’s second European disposal, a Starwood Capital Group controlled fund acquired seven Hilton-branded properties throughout major UK cities for £135 million. The hotels, in locations such as London, Edinburgh and Belfast, will continue as Hilton branded franchisees under third party management by Kew Green Group.

HVS Hodges Ward Elliott Advises on Mandarin Oriental Branded Residences, Barcelona

Mandarin Oriental has been selected to brand and manage 34 luxury residences being developed by Barcelona-based developers KKH Property Investors. The residences are due for completion in 2020 after a complete renovation of the landmark 20-storey ex-Deutsche Bank tower, located on Barcelona’s most exclusive retail avenue, the Passeig de Gracia, at its intersection with the city’s main commercial address, Avinguda Diagonal. KKH were exclusively advised by HVS Hodges Ward Elliott on the deal.

Invesco acquires Crowne Plaza QO, Amsterdam

On behalf of private investors of CBRE Global Investment Partners, Invesco Real Estate acquired the QO hotel located in the Omval business district in Amsterdam, from developers Amstelside BV. The price was undisclosed. The 288-room hotel will be managed by IHG under the Crowne Plaza brand and is due to open in April 2018.

Castello di Casole, Tuscany, sold to Belmond

Belmond has acquired the 39-room Castello di Casole resort, located between Siena and Volterra, for €39 million. The 1,500-acre resort was previously operated by Timbers Hotels & Resorts and includes 48 villas. The asset was sold by the German state winding-up entity Erste Abwicklungsanstalt, which held it since 2013 and carried out a €66 million debt restructuring in 2015.

Forward Sale of the Holiday Inn Gdansk to Union Investment

Union Investment acquired a Holiday Inn development in the Polish waterfront city of Gdansk from Austrian developers UBM AG, for €38 million. Due for completion in mid-2019, the hotel is part of a 60,000 m² mixed-use redevelopment of the ruined river island Wyspa Spichrzów, which UBM entered into less than two years ago with project developer Immobel.

Art Invest to acquire the Maritim Cologne from Commerz Real

The substantial 454-room Maritim Cologne hotel and conference centre is being acquired by local Cologne-based Art Invest Real Estate from a closed fund, for a price of around €120 million, with the sale due to close upon approval of the German M&A authorities. Maritim will continue as operator, however, it is expected that Art Invest will substantially renovate the 55,000 m² property, which the seller had held without major renovation since 1997.

Dalian Wanda offloads its London Nine Elms development

The Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda has sold off its One Nine Elms hotel and residential development on the southern banks of the River Thames in London. The development was sold for £59 million plus transfer of the £159.5 million loan to Guangzhou R&F Properties. Dalian Wanda has come under increased pressure to cut debt, and has disposed of almost £7 billion in assets over the last year.

Disclaimer: Information provided above has been gathered from various market sources. HVS has not independently verified the accuracy of the information provided. Interested parties should not rely on the information as statement of facts and are advised to make their own independent checks to verify the information provided. For further information, please feel free to contact HVS London.