Orion Capital Managers, a European real esate investment firm, has bought out Cerberus Capital Management from their joint venture that owned Sotogrande, a high-end tourist resort in the south-western Spanish port city of Cadiz.
Orion, a European real estate investment company, and US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management had owned the resort on a 50:50 basis since acquiring it from the NH Hotels Group for €225 mln in 2014.
This week Orion's European Real Estate Fund IV acquired the 50% stake from Cerberus, and was now the sole shareholder in Sotogrande Luxco, the main shareholder of the business. It is envisaged that Sotogrande LuxCo will launch a delisting takeover bid over the Sotogrande shares.
Orion said that the transaction marked the beginning of the second phase of Sotogrande's redevelopment and repositioning plan. The aim is to make the property, including its high-end private community, La Reserva Club, 'a luxury destination of choice within Southern Europe'. The site also features to hotels and two golf courses.
Aref Lahham, founder and managing director of Orion: 'We are honoured to have joined forces with Cerberus in the acquisition of Sotogrande. Our partnership not only allowed us to acquire such a unique asset, but also provided us the proper platform to develop Sotogrande into a premiere residential and leisure destination within Europe once again.
'Now that the first phase of our repositioning is complete, we are looking forward to our continued engagement and support of the company and its management team towards the realisation of the company’s strategic objectives.'
