DTGO acquires the Marathon Hotel Portfolio in the UK 

Thailand-based conglomerate DTGO has acquired a 17-hotel (3,481-room) portfolio of IHG and Hilton franchised hotels, from US private equity fund Marathon Asset Management, for £450 million (£129,000 per room). Currently managed by Valor Hospitality, the hotels are all branded under DoubleTree, Hilton Garden Inn, Crowne Plaza, Indigo, Holiday Inn and AC Hotels brands, with some of the more prominent locations including regional cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester. Representing the Thai group’s first hotel acquisition in Europe, the deal is reported to be financed through a CMBS loan arranged by Goldman Sachs.

AccorInvest to acquire Orbis from Accor 

AccorInvest, the French hotel property owning vehicle spun-off from Accor in 2018, has announced that it is acquiring Accor’s 85.8% stake in Poland-based owner-operator Orbis S.A., for PLN4.55bn (€1.06bn). This follows the acquisition by Accor of Orbis’s hotel operating business for €286m in late 2018.  The latest property transaction will add 14,000 rooms across 73 hotels to AccorInvest’s portfolio, spread over 6 countries in the CEE, bringing AccorInvest’s portfolio to over 900 hotels. Post-acquisition, all hotels will continue to be managed by Accor, under long-term management contracts. While the current deal is for Accor’s 85.8% stake, AccorInvest intends to acquire 100% of the shares of the company by the end of March 2020.

APG and LCP acquire London’s Harrington Hall Hotel from Olayan  

APG, the investment vehicle for the pension fund of government and education employees in the Netherlands, in a joint venture with London-based London Central Portfolio (LCP), is acquiring the Harrington Hall Hotel in South Kensington, London, from Saudi Arabian multinational Olayan Group who acquired the property from NH Hotels in 2014 for £90 million. The 200-room hotel is currently vacant and has been on the market since last year for £130 million (£650,000 per room). Harrington Hall will be operated by the joint venture’s new operating platform, positioned as an all-suite budget lifestyle brand, and will re-open in 2022.

London & Regional acquires the Holiday Inn Edinburgh – City West from Cerberus 

London & Regional Properties, UK-based private real estate investor and owner of the Atlas Hotel platform, have acquired the 101-room Holiday Inn Edinburgh – City West from Cerberus Capital Management. The hotel represents the 49th hotel in the Atlas Hotels portfolio, and under new ownership the hotel is expected to undergo an extensive renovation, including the conversion of existing meeting rooms and suites into an additional 28 guestrooms.

Demire acquires Roomers Hotel Frankfurt, Germany from RFR 

Demire, a publicly traded German real estate company, has acquired the 116-room Roomers Hotel Frankfurt from RFR Holding, a German-American real estate investor. One of the leading boutique hotels in Frankfurt since its opening in 2009, the hotel will continue to be managed by the Gekko Group under a long-term lease contract.

Union Street sells future Holiday Inn at Amsterdam Airport 

Union Street Investments, a real estate investment platform created by affiliates of Monarch Alternative Capital LP in 2015, is selling a former office building, the “Gemini”, in Hoofddorp near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, to a private investor. The 10,000 sqm site is to be transformed into a 300-room Holiday Inn hotel and will be operated by German hotel management company GS Star. The hotel is expected to open in the first half of 2021.
 

Serneke to sell and develop a mixed-use site in Malmö, Sweden 

Swedish real estate developer Serneke has signed an agreement with Executive Property Development Europe AB and Fastighets AB Hemporten to sell and develop a site in Malmö, Sweden. The project will feature a long-stay hotel with 65 rooms, which will be branded and leased to the “Apartments by The More Hotel” brand, as well as 42 rental apartments. The total development’s contract is valued at approximately €14.4 million (SEK 151 million) and scheduled for completion in Q2 2022.
 

Donsbachs to sell the Celtic Royal Hotel in North Wales, UK 

Private owners Markus and Sinead Donsbach are selling the Celtic Royal Hotel in Caernarfon, North Wales, to a private investor for an undisclosed sum. The hotel comprises 112 en-suite guest rooms, a 100-seat restaurant, a bar, meeting and event facilities and a heated 16-metre indoor swimming pool. UK-based Providence Hospitality, which already operates nine hotels in the UK and six in South Africa, is to take over the management of the Celtic Royal Hotel.
 

Season's Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year 2020 

We take this opportunity to wish all our readers, clients and friends very happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year. This will be our last weekly newsletter until Friday 10 January 2020 – Season’s Greetings to all!
 

Disclaimer: Information provided above has been gathered from various market sources. HVS has not independently verified the accuracy of the information provided. Interested parties should not rely on the information as statement of facts and are advised to make their own independent checks to verify the information provided. For further information, please feel free to contact HVS London.