Italy's Gruppo Statuto to spin off hotel business

Italian property landlord Gruppo Statuto is planning to spin off and list its €1.5 bn luxury hotel business on the Milan stock exchange, well-informed market sources confirmed to PropertyEU.

Gruppo Statuto, the owner of some of Italy’s most famous luxury hotels, has hired Baker & McKenzie, JP Morgan and Banca IMI to prepare an Initial Public Offering which is expected to take place after the summer.

The group, led by entrepreneur Giuseppe Statuto, owns around €1.5 bn of hotel assets including the renowned Hotel Danieli in Venice and the Four Seasons in Milan as well as two development projects in Milan which will be operated under the W Hotel and Mandarin Oriental brands, as well as a W Hotel development project in Rome.

The news, which was first reported by the Financial Times, will see the property landlord spin off the luxury hotel assets in a separate company while retaining the residential and office property businesses.

Market sources say that, if successful, the listed luxury hotel group would be one of a kind in Italy and comparable only to a few others in the world, such as New York-listed groups Host Hotels & Resorts and Strategic Hotel Capital.

Gruppo Statuto declined to comment on the rumours.