At least five luxury hotel assets were sold this week in some of Europe’s main tourist destinations.
In the Swiss city of Gstaad, owners Marcel Bach and Jean-Claude Mimran have sold the five-star Alpina Gstaad hotel to an undisclosed industrial family from the US for a price said to be CHF200m (€210m).
In Vienna, Kazakh investor Verny Capital has divested the Ritz-Carlton Vienna to Mohamed Alabbar, the Emirati businessman known for founding Emaar Properties. Meanwhile, in Italy three luxury hotel assets have changed hands. Italian hotel chain Starhotels has made its first resort acquisition with the purchase of the luxury Hermitage Hotel&Resort in Forte dei Marmi, Tuscany, while Villa d’Este, an independent Italian operator, bought Hotel Regina Olga di Cernobbio near Lake Como with plans to completely redevelop the asset. Earlier in April the group also bought Albergo Terminus and Vista Lago di Como from Lario Hotels.
Also this week, asset manager Prelios’ Immobiliare Primo RE fund took over the 144-room Avani Rio Novo Venice Hotel in the city centre of Venice from Axa Investment Managers Alts for an undisclosed amount.
Nicola Sajeva, asset and development management director of Prelios SGR, commented: “With this transaction we are further strengthening the positioning of the Primo RE Real Estate Fund in the most attractive Italian real estate markets. The acquisition of a prestigious hotel asset, in a popular tourist destination such as Venice, confirms the fund’s ability to identify strategic investment opportunities in alternative asset classes, diversifying the portfolio both by intended use and by location. Furthermore, it helps to strengthen the rental profile of the portfolio, consolidating our presence in highly prestigious contexts.”
In the recently completed loans sections, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies completed two major financing transactions for a total of €500m. It provided a €320m five-year loan to MARK Capital Management to refinance a mixed-use retail and office portfolio in Oslo, marking its debut in real estate debt financing in Norway.
Furthermore, the asset management giant arranged a £153m (€179.2m) loan to refinance a portfolio of four prime UK logistics assets on behalf of Brookfield and Copley Point Capital.
Brookfield and Copley Point Capital assembled the 1.6m sqft portfolio during the dislocated capital market conditions in 2023. Located across the North West, East Midlands and London regions, the portfolio consists of four institutional-spec, highly reversionary warehouses on long-term leases.
| Recently completed deals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Buyer | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Key facts |
| 50% stake in eight supermarket assets | retail | UK | Blue Owl Capital | Supermarket Income REIT | 8 assets | £200 (€234) | The portfolio generates an average net initial yield of 6.6% with a WAULT of 11 years |
| The Alpina Gstaad | hotel | Gstaad, Switzerland | US investor | Marcel Bach and Jean-Claude Mimran | 56 rooms | €210 | The asset comprises four restaurants, a bar, a Six Senses spa, and six meeting facilities |
| Plot of land | logistics | Alcalá de Henares, Madrid | Garbe Industrial Real Estate | NA | 24,000 m2 | €15 | A logistics property with a total area of around 12,500 square metres is to be built on this site by year-end 2026 |
| Junction 27 | retail | Birstall, England | Hines | Tritax Big Box REIT | 131,000 sq ft | NA | The retail park is fully let |
| 133 homes | living | Wixams, Bedfordshire, UK | Aviva Investors | Packaged Living | 133 homes | NA | The deal was made through the Aviva Investors Real Estate Active Long Term Asset Fund |
| Part of Los Fresnos de Gijón | retail | Gijón, Spain | L Catterton | Ares Management and Redevco | 30 shops | NA | Carrefour Property owns the majority of the mall |
| ABC Harnaschpolder | logistics | The Hague | AEW | NA | 15,000 m2 | NA | ABC Harnaschpolder is fully let to Logicall Technical Installation Services |
| Avani Rio Novo Venice Hotel | hotel | Venice | Prelios’ Immobiliare Primo RE | AXA Investment Managers Alts | 144 rooms | NA | The hotel opened in 2019 as NH Venezia Rio Novo, and was later rebranded as Avani |
| BTR development | living | Copenhagen | Barings | Catella | 269 units | NA | The project marks Barings’s entry into Denmark |
| New PBSA project currently under construction | living | Porto, Portugal | Hines | NA | 573 beds | NA | The 19,259 m² acquisition represents the first investment by Hines in the Portuguese market |
| Hotel Regina Olga di Cernobbio | hotel | Cernobbio, Italy | Villa d’Este | R Collection Hotels | 80 rooms | NA | The former four-star hotel will be completely restructured |
| Hermitage Hotel&Resort | hotel | Forte dei Marmi, Italy | Starhotels | Augustus Hotel&Resort | 59 rooms | NA | The deal represents the first resort acquisition for the Italian hotel chain |
| Ritz-Carlton | hotel | Vienna | Mohamed Alabbar | Verny Capital | 200 rooms | NA | Verny bought the asset in 2021 from developer BAI |
| Upper Nord Tower development site | living | Düsseldorf | Nexus Investment | Adler | 4,550m2 | NA | Nexus plans to construct a mixed residential and hotel building complex on the site |
| Assets on the market | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Broker | Key facts |
| Panattoni Park Wrocław South Hub | logistics | Wroclaw, Poland | Panattoni |
260,000m² |
€200 | NA | The recently developed asset is largely leased to Shein |
| Urban Villas | living | Amsterdam | Union Investment | 173 apartments | €90 | NA | The asset was bought by UniImmo: Global in 2022 |
| La Touch House | office | Dublin | Axa Investment Managers Alts | 107,639 sq ft | €50 | NA | AXA bought the building in 2020 for nearly €84m |
| Recently completed loans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lender(s) | Borrower(s) | Asset(s) | Loan size (mln) | Key facts |
| Mizuho | Eni | Liverpool Bay CCS project | £2500 (€2922) | This deal marks Mizuho’s second Capture Carbon Storage (CCS) transaction and allows the project to start the construction phase |
| Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies | Mark Capital | mixed-use retail and office portfolio in Oslo | €320 | The five-year loan will refinance the 12 properties in Oslo, acquired in 2016 by a Mark fund |
| Macquarie Asset Management | Westminster City Council | 350 homes in London | £235 (€275) | The acquisition finance is inflation linked with a term of 42 years including an initial two-year rent-free period |
| Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies | Brookfield and Copley Point | four UK warehouses | £153 (€179) | Brookfield and Copley Point Capital assembled the 1.6 million sq ft portfolio in 2023 |
| Cheyne Capital | Dorchester Living | former air base Heyford Park | £100 (€117) | The loan will refinance existing facilities and help fund masterplanning and infrastructure at the site |
| BNP Paribas | The Social Hub | The Student Hotel Firenze Lavagnini and Bologna | €80 | The loan refinances the two operational facilities |
| Alior Bank | Panattoni | Lublin Voivodeship | €14 | The loan will fund the development of an 11,190m2 BTS facility at Park Lublin IV |
| pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank | PineBridge Benson Elliot | office park located in Warsaw | NA | pbb has extended the existing investment facility |
| Deutsche Hypo – NORD/LB Real Estate Finance | Tonsa Group | Olivia Prime A office building in Gdansk | NA | The five-year green loan will refinance the office complex |
