US private equity firm Blackstone is reportedly buying a portfolio of 46 hotels across Europe for EUR 620 mln. According to a report in the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, the US company acquired the hotels in a bidding contest organised by Goldman Sachs' Whitehall funds and the American Westmont Hospitality Group. Other parties who participated in the bid were NH Hotels jointly with GE Real Estate, Park Plaza Hotels & Resort, the French Accor jointly with Batipart (a unit of Fonciere des Regions) and the Axa Group, the paper said without quoting sources. A Blackstone spokesperson could not immediately confirm the news to PropertyEU.

US private equity firm Blackstone is reportedly buying a portfolio of 46 hotels across Europe for EUR 620 mln. According to a report in the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, the US company acquired the hotels in a bidding contest organised by Goldman Sachs' Whitehall funds and the American Westmont Hospitality Group. Other parties who participated in the bid were NH Hotels jointly with GE Real Estate, Park Plaza Hotels & Resort, the French Accor jointly with Batipart (a unit of Fonciere des Regions) and the Axa Group, the paper said without quoting sources. A Blackstone spokesperson could not immediately confirm the news to PropertyEU.

The majority of the hotels are located in France (24), another six are located in Belgium and 16 are in Italy. Here the hotels are in Rome, Bologna, Modena, Verona, Palermo, Turin, Pisa, and Piacenza, as well as two Jolly hotels in Cagliari and in Catania. The portfolio includes three hotels in the vicinity of Milan that are operated under the brand Holiday Inn and Express by the Holiday Inn Group. CB Richard Ellis Hotels acted as advisors in this deal.

In July, Blackstone launched a $26 bn bid for Hilton Hotels and earlier this year the group bought the German Deutsche Inter Hotels for EUR 720 mln from 70% shareholders Deutsche Bank and Aareal Bank.