AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets has acquired the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Amsterdam’s city centre from Chinese insurer Anbang.
Financial details were not disclosed, but well informed market sources consulted by PropertyEU put the purchase price at €425 mln, reflecting a yield of between 5.6% and 6%.
The deal is understood to include both the real estate and management contract for the hotel, which is operated by Hilton under its Doubletree brand on a long-term agreement.
Anbang is selling the hotel, located directly adjacent to Amsterdam Central Station, for nearly €80 mln more than it paid for the asset in May 2017. At the time, the €350 mln deal was one of the biggest real estate transactions of the year in the Netherlands.
The higher sale price reflects improved operational results, higher room fees and better occupancy rates, coupled with falling market yields, the sources told PropertyEU.
Built in 2011, the DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Central Station comprises 29,710 m2 and 557 bedrooms, including 48 suites. The hotel has 15 meeting rooms, three restaurants as well as a rooftop bar and terrace with views over the River IJ and across the city. There is also an independently owned and operated carpark, with 1,355 public parking spaces, located beneath the hotel.
Crispijn Stulp, country head for the Netherlands at AXA IMRA, commented: ‘The DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Central Station is a truly core asset benefiting from a prime position in a key European capital city that demonstrates favourable long-term fundamentals. Amsterdam is one of Europe’s fastest growing and most dynamic markets drawing a balanced mix of both leisure and business visitors, making it an ideal destination in which to expand our hotel footprint and an attractive addition to our income-producing managed portfolio.'
The DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Central Station is the fifth addition to AXA IMRA’s Amsterdam hotels portfolio, which includes the iconic Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in the city centre. In total, AXA manages a €3 bn portfolio of hotels across 11 countries on behalf of clients.
Anbang entered the Dutch market in October 2016 when it acquired office properties worth more than €500 mln from Blackstone. The privately held Chinese firm carried out its Dutch activities via local subsidiary Vivat, which was later sold to the NN Group and specialist insurer Athora when Anbang came under pressure from the Chinese authorities to sell off its overseas property holdings in a crackdown on high-flying tycoons.
Anbang’s former chief executive, Wu Xiaohui, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last year for fraud and corruption.
