Ott Ventures, the private equity arm of the family office of Orco Property Group & MaMaison Hotels & Residences founder Ott Properties, has launched its first hotel fund.
The pan-European investment vehicle is targeting a total of around €500 mln assets under management with a planned loan-to-value of 50%. It will invest across Europe with a focus on the main CEE markets of Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary as well as in Germany and Austria.
Dubbed Velvet, the hotel fund will invest in properties from budget to trophy assets, in city centre locations, both in existing properties and developments. It has already identified several opportunities for its seed portfolio. the firm said.
Jean-François Ott, founder and CEO at Ott Ventures commented: 'This is clearly a 'special situation moment' for contrarian investors like us. We were the first ones to accumulate assets in Prague in the 90’s and in Berlin in mid-2000. We worked with EBRD on developing MaMaison Hotels & Residences in the region and later teamed up with AIG.
'As two key players in their respective regions, both MaMaison Hotels & Residences and Suncani Hvar were acquired by CPI Property Group in 2016. We are now convinced of the long-term growth potential and strong fundamentals of the hospitality sector and the recovery post Covid crisis.
'In a momentum of weak competition with few new products, alongside an expected increase in regional ADRs we believe it is the best time for us to launch our first hotel fund. Over the last 3 decades, our team has worked on more than 300 transactions worth more than €4 bn in both listed products and direct investments, with €1 bn alone in hotels.'
Nicolas Horky has joined Ott Ventures to manage its new hotel fund. Horky has 15 years of experience in real estate, specialising in the hotel asset class. He started his career at Orco Property Group in Prague where he worked for both MaMaison Hotels & Residences and Suncani Hvar Hotels.
Horky later set up SNH Consulting, a real estate consulting firm based in Prague and covering the Central European real estate market. In 2015 he joined Principal Real Estate Europe’s hotel team in London where he held the positions of asset manager and later transactions manager.
