Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe has acquired five Greek hotel businesses from the Eastern Mediterranean's Louis Group, for €178.6 mln.
The five hotels are located in the Greek Islands with two in Corfu (Corcyra Beach and Grand Hotel), two in Zante (Zante Beach and Plagos Beach) and one in Crete (Creta Princess). They have a total of 1,464 hotel rooms.
The hotels will continue to be operated by Louis Group under the management of HIP, a hospitality company owned by funds managed by Blackstone. According to the private equity giant, HIP is the largest owner of hotels in Southern Europe, and the acquisition expands its footprint to Greece.
'We are very pleased to announce our first investment outside of Spain, and more specifically in Greece, a country that is globally renowned for its leisure offering and unique locations,' said Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas, CEO and founding partner of HIP.
'With this acquisition, we see an opportunity to add value by investing and actively managing the hotel businesses as we have done with the rest of our HIP portfolio,' Hernández-Puértolas added.
James Seppala, head of European real estate at Blackstone, said: 'Greece is a fantastic destination with an incredible history, wonderful weather, and meaningfully improving connectivity with the rest of the world.
'We are excited to invest here, to help Greece maintain its rightful place as a premier global tourist destination and spur local economic growth. This transaction reflects our confidence in the Greek investment environment and we hope to invest further.'
'We are delighted to announce this transaction with Blackstone. The transformation of these hotels will be a boost for the Greek tourist sector and we look forward to working with both Blackstone and HIP to enhance the experience of guests staying in these hotels,' said Costakis Loizou, chairman of Louis Group.
Completion of the transaction is subject to the customary approval of the relevant antitrust authorities.
Blackstone is already one of the leading hotel investors in the Mediterranean, after a string of key deals. Last year, the private equity giant bought hotel-focused Spanish REIT Hispania for €2 bn, adding the Socimi's 13,100 rooms to assets in its Hilton Worldwide portfolio to become the premier hotel investor in Spain.
