Global private markets firm Partners Group has acquired a majority stake in Spanish hospitality platform Bluesea Hotels, in partnership with private equity firm Portobello Capital.
Based in Palma de Mallorca, Bluesea Hotels operates 25 three- and four-star hotels with around 5,100 rooms across popular Spanish tourist destinations, including the Balearic and Canary Islands, Costa Brava, Costa del Sol, and Madrid.
Partners Group will join Bluesea's board of directors and work with management and Portobello Capital to enhance the company's value. This will involve upgrading existing hotels, expanding services, improving operational efficiency, and acquiring new properties.
Geoffrey Bonnefoy-Cudraz, member of Management, Real Estate, Partners Group, said: ‘A key part of our value creation plan will be making strategic acquisitions to build Bluesea’s platform, capitalizing on the highly fragmented three- to four-star hotel segment in Spain, which represents the majority of the country’s hospitality market.’
Stephen McCall, managing director, and head of Real Estate Platforms & OpCos, Partners Group, commented: ‘Hospitality is one of our global high-conviction strategies. The operationally intensive nature of the sector offers significant value-creation potential and fits well with our focus on transformational investment. We have made it a priority to build vertical depth through our strategic operator relationships, local presence, and globally integrated platform and continue to look for investment opportunities across the segment.’
Partners Group expects strong revenue growth for the hospitality sector in Spain, resulting from a growth in budget travel, rising consumer spending, and a projected undersupply of hotel rooms for the next five years.
To strengthen its hospitality expertise, Partners Group has been investing in specialized fund managers and operators. This includes a strategic stake in Trinity Investments, a US hospitality real estate investor, with whom Partners Group has already completed three acquisitions, including the recent purchase of The Standard, a London hotel.
