Property investment firm Castleforge Partners has announced its second hotel purchase in the last month with the acquisition of the Hilton Hotel in Cardiff, in a sales process run by CBRE.
Castleforge purchased the 197-bedroom hotel, located in the heart of the Welsh capital, from a private owner who had owned the hotel for fourteen years, having bought the asset in 2007 for £40 mln (€47 mln).
Opened in 1999, the seven-floor Hilton Cardiff has views over Cardiff Castle and the city's Edwardian civic centre.
The deal quickly follows Castleforge’s first investment in the hospitality sector in May when it acquired the Best Western Plus Bruntsfield Hotel in Edinburgh.
Castleforge has invested approximately £1 bn since its inception in 2010, with a focus on value-add investment in office and residential real estate across the UK and Europe. In 2020, Castleforge announced its intentions to enter the hospitality sector when it hired Matt Lederer from Marriott International to become their Hotel Acquisitions director.
Commenting on the Hilton Cardiff purchase, Matt Lederer, Hotel Acquisitions director at Castleforge Partners said: ‘Our hotel strategy at Castleforge is to invest only in best in class value add opportunities across the UK and European markets. Our decision to invest in the city of Cardiff and the Hilton Hotel are emblematic of this approach.’
