Singaporean investor First Sponsor Group has acquired the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in Amsterdam for a combined €55 mln, marking the second direct investment in the Netherlands by an Asian investor.

Singaporean investor First Sponsor Group has acquired the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in Amsterdam for a combined €55 mln, marking the second direct investment in the Netherlands by an Asian investor.

The vendor of the properties is IVG Institutional Funds (IVG IF).

Both hotels are InterContinental Hotel brands and both are located in the Arena Towers building in Amsterdam’s southeast area. They offer a combined 17,500 m2 of space, with the Holiday Inn Express offering 323 rooms against 120 for The Holiday Inn.

The hotels and adjoining 440 parking spaces are leased to the Vincent Hotel Group for a period of 25 years.

The deal is First Sponsor’s second in the Netherlands to date and follows its purchase in February of the Zuiderhof 1 office complex in Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district together with a group of private investors for €51.5 mln.

First Sponsor is a listed Chinese company majority-owned by the Hong Leong Group – one of China’s biggest real estate investors – and Tai Tak Estates.

‘Asian investor interest in Dutch commercial property is growing,’ said Erik Langens, executive director of capital markets at CBRE, which brokered the deal on behalf of First Sponsor Group and also carried out the technical due diligence. ‘A growing number of investors is interested in buying Dutch property such as offices, shopping centres, retail portfolios and now hotels. We expect that more Asian investors will follow First Sponsor Group’s example.’

Reinoud Plantenga, director of investment management at IVG IF, said the hotel transaction made it possible for the company to round off the redevelopment of the Arena Towers, which also comprises 6,000 m2 of refurbished office space leased to DIY chain Praxis.

Law firm Loyens & Loeff advised First Sponsor on the legal side of the transaction. IVG IF was advised by Colliers International, with StraatmanKoster and Admetos acting on the legal side while technical services were provided by Verwey Real Estate Management and Indevco.