US investment firm KKR has joined forces with Spanish family-owned investor Excem Real Estate to build up a pan-European hostel platform with an initial portfolio of five hostels in the Iberian peninsula.

Mai-Lan de Marcilly

Mai-Lan De Marcilly

The platform aims to grow in size and eventually include over 25 assets in central locations in the main Western European cities and in selective locations of Central Europe.

The hostels will be managed under the CATS brand, owned by Excem RE. The five initial hostels are located in the center of Madrid (3 assets), Lisbon and Porto, with 324 beds already in operation and 659 beds about to be reopened in the next 18 months.

'We are proud to join forces with KKR on this exciting trip,' said Andrés Sánchez Lozano, CEO of Excem RE. 'We rely on the knowledge of KKR within the hotel sector which, combined with our experience in real estate and 25 years of experience in hotel management, offers us a robust basis for growth.'

'We are excited to enter the hostel market,' added Mai-Lan de Marcilly, director of KKR for Europe. 'We look forward to working closely with Excem to expand our footprint in Europe. KKR has a successful track record in the execution of partnership agreements in the real estate sector in Europe, especially in the hotel and leisure market, and we will use our experience to help develop this joint hotel company.'

KKR is investing in the sector through its Real Estate Partners Europe fund.