Italian, Kuwaiti SWFs buy into Rocco Forte Hotels

Italy's state-owned Fondo Strategico Italiano and its JV with Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund KIA are injecting €76 mln of equity into Rocco Forte Hotels in exchange for a 23% stake in the hotel chain.

FSI, which was formed in 2011, is injecting the capital together with FSI Investimenti, its 77-23% partnership with KIA (Kuwait Investment Authority).

The capital will help fund the expansion of Rocco Forte Hotels’ Italian portfolio over the next five years and pay off some of the hotel company’s debt.

The operation, to be carried out through a capital increase, is the first by the Italian sovereign wealth fund in the hotel sector.

FSI is mainly owned by an Italian bank, the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, with an 80% interest, while the Bank of Italy owns the remaining 20%. The Italian government established the €4.4 bn FSI fund in July 2011 to invest in strategic Italian companies and assets.

Rocco Forte Hotels owns a number of luxury hotel assets in Italy including properties in Rome, Florence and Sicily. Its portfolio includes a total of 11 hotels in Italy, the UK, Germany, Belgium and Russia.

'The partnership with Gruppo Rocco Forte Hotels is FSI's first step in the Italian tourist sector,' commented Maurizio Tamagnini, CEO of FIS.

The operation is part of a wider programme by FIS' main shareholder, Cassa depositi e prestiti, to invest in the tourist and hotel sectors. As part of this strategy, CDP recently launched Fondo Investimenti per il Turismo (FIT), a real estate fund for institutional investors focused on hotel assets in Italy.

FIT was seeded with a €90 mln portfolio including four assets in Venice, Bergamo, Turin and Verona.