First Sponsor, the Singapore-listed property developer-owner, is set to become one of the largest hotel owners in the Netherlands after agreeing to acquire 17 assets operated by the Bilderberg hotel chain.
A consortium led by First Sponsor and Germany's Event Hotel Group is to acquire the Queens Bilderberg Nederland (QBN) portfolio from Bilderberg for €205 mln, reflecting a yield of 6.5%.
The official buyer of 95% of the portfolio is FSMC NL Property Group, an entity in which First Sponsor holds a 33% interest. Event Hotel Group will own the remaining 5%.
QBN owns a portfolio of 17 hotels, described as the Bilderberg Portfolio, with 1,695 rooms and 13,661 m2 of conference space. The portfolio is spread across the Netherlands, including key gateway cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.
Bilderberg is a well-known brand in the Netherlands, in terms of both its accommodation, meeting and conference hosting and 49 food and beverage outlets, including 2 Michelin-starred restaurants.
Neo Teck Pheng, Group CEO at First Sponsor, said, 'This envisaged acquisition will catapult the group to become one of the largest hotel owners in the Netherlands. The Bilderberg Portfolio has an established profit track record from as far back as 2001 which would provide further diversification to our recurrent income base thereby strengthening our business resilience.
'The Bilderberg Portfolio will be acquired at a historical 2016 net yield of 6.5% after transaction costs. It has undergone capital expenditure of €36 mln in total for the last 4 years which has positioned the portfolio advantageously to capture any potential upside from the improving Dutch economy and uptake in the hospitality market.
'In addition, certain hotels have been identified to have redevelopment potential including increasing room count to optimise their earnings capacity. 15 out of the 17 hotels are freehold and perpetual leasehold in tenure and this aligns well with the group’s long term investment strategy for capital appreciation.'
First Sponsor already has significant interests in Dutch real estate, such as the Arena Tower, Mondriaan Tower and Munthof in Amsterdam and Berg & Bosch in Bilthoven.
Event Hotels, with its head office in Cologne, is a family office specialised in hotel investment and management, with currently 11 hotels under management in the Netherlands.
Dries van der Vossen, managing director of Bilderberg said: ' I am excited that First Sponsor Group and Event Hotels will further invest in the value proposition of our network of Bilderberg hotels, each of them representing a unique offer to our hotel and restaurant guests.
Eastdil Secured advised the vendor in this transaction.
