Abu Dhabi investment group Diafa has splashed some £1.4bn (€1.6bn) to take control of British businessman Richard Caring’s hospitality empire.
The restaurant and private members’ club portfolio includes brands such as The Ivy, Scott’s, Sexy Fish, Noema and Annabel’s, according to a company statement.
This was the largest of several major hospitality portfolio transactions announced this week. In the UK, MCR Property Group has deployed £150m into a central London hospitality portfolio, with plans to grow the platform to £500m.
The portfolio is anchored by a £123m acquisition comprising four assets and marks MCR’s entry into the hospitality sector. The firm will undertake a full refurbishment programme across the assets, which will relaunch under a new independent lifestyle collection brand.
Edmund Kissner, who is leading MCR’s new brand, said: “We are currently finalising the brand platform, ensuring it has the strength and clarity to scale beyond these initial assets. Our ambition is not to operate a collection of four hotels, but to build a cohesive hospitality proposition with real identity and operational depth. This is the beginning of a much broader rollout.”
Similarly, European listed property group Covivio is accelerating its expansion in the hotel sector with the acquisition of four hotels in Milan for €217m.
The four-star hotels, located in the Scalo Farini area, Bicocca, Corso Buenos Aires and Piazzale Loreto, offer a total of 900 rooms. The deal was finalised through a sale-and-leaseback transaction with Invest Hospitality, which will continue to operate the properties under a 21-year lease agreement.
| Recently completed deals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Buyer | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Key facts |
| majority stake in Ivy hotel chain | retail | UK | Abu Dhabi-based hospitality investor Diafa | Richard Caring | NA | £1400 (€1610) | The portfolio includes the landmark Ivy restaurant and eponymous group of Ivy Brasseries, a collection of luxury restaurants. |
| four hotels | hotel | Milan | Covivio Hotels | Invest Hospitality | 900 rooms | €217 | The four-star properties are located at Scalo Farini, Bicocca, Corso Buenos Aires and Piazzale Loreto. |
| four hotels | hotel | London | MCR Property Group | NA | 87 rooms | £123 (€141) | The hotels are the 38-room Ashburn Hotel, 19-room Ashburn Court, 16-room Claverley Court and 14-room Chesham Court. |
| 39 rue du Colisée | office | Paris | DWS | BNP Paribas Asset Management | 6,193m2 | €137 | The historic building in Paris’ eighth district is occupied by UBS. |
| 23 industrial properties | logistics | Sweden | NP3 Fastigheter | NA | 141,000m2 | €111 | The assets generate €8.87m in annual rent and are 93% occupied. |
| life science portfolio | alternative | Heidelberg, Germany | GalCap Europe | Sparkasse Heidelberg | 13,800m2 | €100 | The acquisition marks GalCap’s entry into the German market, expanding a life science portfolio that previously comprised four properties in Austria. |
| four assets | mixed | Italy | Castello sgr, Gruppo Ginobbi, FLE Italia Sicaf | Nextalia | NA | €100 | The assets include Rome’s Palazzo Scanderbeg and Teatro delle Arti, the Faentina retail park in Ravenna and a logistics asset in Florence. |
| Waverley Gate | office | Edinburgh | Melford Capital | Kennedy Wilson | 205,170sqft | £78 (€90) | The building benefits from an occupancy rate of 97%, housing a diverse roster of tenants including Amazon and Microsoft. |
| 70 Wilson St | office | London | Undisclosed | UBS Triton Property Fund | 73,753sqft | £65 (€75) | The asset has an occupancy rate of only 17%. |
| Hanningtons Lane | retail | Brighton, UK | The Baron Homes Corporation | Redevco | 123,000sqft | £50 (€58) | Redevco bought the estate from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2015. |
| two logistics assets | logistics | Düsseldorf and Kassel, Germany | M7 Real Estate | NA | 30,800m2 | €38 | The assets are fully let to individual tenants. |
| minority stake in logistics portfolio | logistics | The Netherlands | StepStone Real Estate | HighBrook Investors | NA | NA | The portfolio forms part of CityLink’s broader European logistics platform which totals 140 warehouses across the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. |
| Project Delta resi asset | living | Vallensbæk Strand, Denmark | Viga Real Estate and Pictet Alternative Advisors | Danish family office | 96 units | NA | Built in 2007, the property comprises 96 residential units across 9,466m2, distributed over two high-rise buildings. |
| transhipment property | logistics | Bremen, Germany | LIP Invest | DLH Real Estate | 9,600m2 | NA | The asset was bought for the “LIP Real Estate Investment Fund – LOGISTICS GERMANY V” launched by IntReal. |
| Carl Living mixed use asset | mixed | Mannheim, Germany | INDUSTRIA | Alstria | 5,600m2 | NA | The property provides 4,500m2 of residential accommodation and 1,100m2 of commercial space. |
| Elo shopping centre | retail | Ylöjärvi, Finland | Balder | Sponda | 24,800m2 | NA | The anchor tenants are K-Citymarket, Jula, JYSK and McDonald’s. |
| industrial asset | logistics | Krakow, Poland | Principal Asset Management | Undisclosed | 16,281m2 | NA | The vendor has leased back the asset on a new 10‑year triple net lease. |
| 131–151 Great Titchfield Street | office | London | Sogo Development Group | Oval Real Estate | 43,541sqft | NA | The property was marketed with a listing price of £52m about four months ago. |
| The Technopolis Ullevi campus | office | Gothenburg | Alecta | Technopolis | 28,549m2 | NA | The asset is currently fully occupied and hosts more than 20 customers. |
| Stop Shop San Fior and Stop Shop Terminal Nord Udine | retail | Italy | Ares | CPI Europe | 60,000m2 | NA | Stop Shop San Fior is a convenience retail park while Stop Shop Terminal Nord Udine is anchored by Carrefour. |
| Assets on the market | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Broker | Key facts |
| The Coyote resi portfolio | living | Glasgow, Leicester, Newcastle and Nottingham | Edmond de Rothschild | 253,973sqft | £71 (€82) | Allsop | The BTR portfolio includes the Regents Plaza in Newcastle. |
| Marland House, The Courtyard, and Queens Gate | living | Southampton, UK | St Katherine Investment Group | 220 bedrooms | £25+ (€29) | BNPPRE | The fully stabilised portfolio in Southampton consists of three freehold student housing schemes. |
| The Knightsbrook Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort | hotel | Trim, Ireland | Cusack Hotel Group | 131 bedrooms | €25 | Savills and JLL | Set across a total of 172 acres of parkland, the resort features a championship 18-hole golf course. |
| Recently completed loans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lender(s) | Borrower(s) | Asset(s) | Loan Size (mln) | Key facts |
| Wallenberg Investments, Temasek and IMAS | Stegra | Swedish steel plant | €1400 | The loan provides Stegra with a fully funded path to complete the construction and commissioning of its green steel plant. |
| Apollo | A&O Hostels | European hotel portfolio | €874 | The five-year loan provides the sponsor with the proceeds to continue growing the platform. |
| Bond investors | URW | Unsecured | €750 | The green bond has a 7-year maturity (maturing in April 2033) and a 3.875% fixed coupon. |
| Bond investors | Segro European Logistics Partnership JV with PSP | Unsecured | €500 | The senior bonds have a five-year term and have been priced 105 basis points above euro mid-swaps, equating to an annual coupon of 3.875%. |
| HSBC, Barclays | Related Argent | Brent Cross Town build-to-rent assets | £189 (€217) | The loan refinances the first two build-to-rent assets at its 180-acre regeneration project, Brent Cross Town. |
| Apollo | Crestyl and Spravia | Unsecured | €165 | The financing supports Crestyl’s growth activities in Poland and strengthens Spravia’s position in the real estate sector. |
| Berlin Hyp | GTC | German resi portfolio | €149 | The new facility matures in 2031 and replaces existing financing, extending the debt maturity profile and strengthening the group’s long-term financing structure. |
| Macquarie Asset Management | Vilogia | housing portfolio in France | €100 | Vilogia is one of the largest not-for-profit social housing providers in France, owning and operating 87,000 homes. |
| Unicredit | Invel Real Estate | YellowSquare hospitality portfolio | €65 | The facility will fund the acquisition and development of more than 2,000 beds, to be operated by hostel chain YellowSquare, across major Italian gateway cities. |
| New mandates/JVs and funds on the market | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Firm | Fund/mandate/JV | Strategy | Details |
| South Dakota Investment Council | Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund XIII | Investing globally in distressed, undercapitalized, and mismanaged assets, with a focus on North America (45–55%) and Europe (35–45%) | The fund secured an additional $150m of capital. |
| Tritax | Tritax London Logistics Fund | Investing in high-quality, last-mile, and urban logistics assets within the Greater London M25 orbital | The vehicle has raised a further £110m, bringing the total capital raised across 2025 to £313m. |
