ECE Real Estate Partners (ECE REP), the institutional fund management arm of Hamburg-based developer ECE, has announced plans to expand into hotel real estate.
The firm has appointed investment expert Ascan Kókai as principal and head of hotels, with responsibility for the hotel investment business under the leadership of Volker Kraft and Markus Schmitt-Habersack.
Kókai has 28 years of international experience in hotel property investments and the hospitality industry. According to ECE REP, his knowledge spans hotel asset and fund management, negotiating operating contracts, sale and purchase agreements as well as real estate financing.
After almost seven years in London as a consultant in the hospitality division of JLL, Kókai joined European hotel investor, Invesco Real Estate (IRE), in 2005.
In 2015, Kókai was appointed by NH Hotel Group to the management committee of its Northern Europe business. In the newly created position of head of development and asset management, he was responsible for optimising a portfolio of almost 130 hotels in 13 countries.
Kókai said: 'The return to the investor side of the hospitality sector at this time allows me, together with Volker and the ECE REP team, to implement the hotel fund strategy in an anti-cyclical manner.
'The team's extensive investment experience, high professionalism and enthusiasm are complemented by my sector expertise. We will thus offer investors an attractive platform to participate in this sought-after asset class beyond the current turmoil.'
Volker Kraft, managing partner of ECE REP, said: 'I am happy to have gained an internationally renowned expert for our hotel strategy in Ascan.
'His extensive experience as an investor, operator and consultant provides a special profile that will enable us to attract investors and make investments on a pan-European basis.
'In building up the hotel investment business, ECE Real Estate Partners benefits from the extensive hotel expertise in the ECE Group. As one of the largest developers of hotel real estate in the German-speaking countries, ECE has been active in the hotel segment for more than ten years.
'In addition, the Otto family has extensive experience in the sector with its investments in numerous hotel properties and its strategic investment in the Ruby Hotel Group.'
