Five Greek hotels bought for €178.6m

The Louis Grand Hotel has been acquired
The Louis Grand Hotel in Greece

GREECE
Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe has agreed to acquire five Greek hotels from the Louis Group a leading Mediterranean hotel group. The total value of the deal is €178.6 million.

Two of the Greek hotels – Corcyra Beach and Grand Hotel – are in Corfu. Two – Zante Beach and also Plagos Beach – are in Zante. The final hotel, Creta Princess, is in Crete. Together, they have 1,464 rooms.

The Greek hotels will continue to be operated by Louis Group under the management of HIP, a hospitality company owned by funds managed by Blackstone. HIP is the largest owner of hotels in Southern Europe. The acquisition is its first in Greece.

Through HIP, Blackstone will invest “meaningful capital” to renovate and also reposition the Greek hotels.

James Seppala, Head of European Real Estate at Blackstone, says, “We are excited to invest here, to help Greece maintain its rightful place as a premier global tourist destination and spur local economic growth. This transaction reflects our confidence in the Greek investment environment and we hope to invest further.”

Costakis Loizou, Chairman of Louis Group, states, “The transformation of these hotels will be a boost for the Greek tourist sector and we look forward to working with both Blackstone and HIP to enhance the experience of guests staying in these hotels.”

Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas, CEO and Founding Partner of HIP, says, “With this acquisition, we see an opportunity to add value by investing and actively managing the hotel businesses as we have done with the rest of our HIP portfolio.”

Completion of the transaction is subject to approval of the relevant antitrust authorities.

Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991. It has $154 billion of investor capital under management.

Source: https://www.blackstone.com/media/press-releases/article/blackstone-announces-the-acquisition-of-five-hotel-businesses-in-greece

Sale of 15,000sqm of Madrid offices

A general view of Madrid city
A general view of Madrid

SPAIN
Leading global private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital has acquired two office buildings in Madrid, Spain.

The acquisition by one of its affiliates is for approximately 15,000 square meters.

One of the buildings has been recently refurbished to a high standard, while the other will undergo an extensive renovation. The aim is to benefit from the strong occupier market, which is attracting the interest of major international tenants. Terms have not been disclosed.

H.I.G. continues to add to its sizeable holdings of real estate assets across Europe, consisting of both equity as well as debt investments, with a focus on value-added small/midcap opportunities.

Riccardo Dallolio, Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Realty Partners Europe, says, “Our focus in Spain is on high quality assets with the potential of becoming highly liquid institutional product as the result of the envisaged value add initiatives.”

Esteban Caja Samboal, Principal at H.I.G. Europe Realty Partners in Madrid, adds, “Spain represents an important part of our European strategy and we continue to seek additional small and mid-cap, value add, investment opportunities to increase H.I.G.´s presence in this market.”

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $34 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., and also international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Bogotá, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion.

Source: higcapital.com/news/release/1231

Logistics facilities adds to European portfolio

Van Soest Coldstores has sold two facilities
Van Soest Coldstores has sold two facilities to Lineage Logistics

THE NETHERLANDS & BELGUIM
Lineage Logistics, LLC, the world’s largest and most innovative provider of temperature-controlled logistics solutions, has acquired two facilities.

They were bought from Van Soest Coldstores. The Netherlands-based organization specializes in the storage and also the transfer of cooled and deep-frozen food products. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the agreement, US-based Lineage acquired Van Soest’s facilities in Venlo, Netherlands, and also Rijkevorsal, Belgium, to complement the Company’s existing presence in both countries. Van Soest’s facility in Gamaren, Netherlands, a joint-venture and newly formed business, was not part of the transaction.

Greg Lehmkuhl, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lineage Logistics, says, “Part of our strategy is to grow the Lineage facility network in strategic locations to provide our customers with best-in-class solutions that meet all of their cold storage and logistics needs. Bringing Van Soest Coldstores into the Lineage family helps us do just that.”

The acquisition will add more than 10 million cubic feet and more than 300,000 square feet of storage capacity to Lineage’s portfolio, bringing Lineage’s total European cold storage capacity to nearly 200 million cubic feet across 23 facilities in England, Scotland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Anton Mauritz, Managing Director, Van Soest Coldstores, says, “We decided to join the Lineage family because of the Company’s impressive track record of building lasting relationships based on mutual respect with family businesses like Van Soest.”

Since the Company’s founding in 2008, Lineage has achieved sustained growth organically, through new construction and with acquisitions in the US and across the globe.

Source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190918005125/en/Lineage-Logistics-Expands-Global-Presence-Strategic-Acquisition

Montijo Retail Park sold

PORTUGAL
The Montijo Retail Park near Lisbon has been sold by Commerz Real.

Montijo Retail Park

It has been acquired by CA Património Crescente, an open-ended real estate fund managed by Square Asset Management, of Portugal.

The property has been in the portfolio of Commerz Reals’ open-ended real estate fund hausInvest since its completion in 2009. There has been no indication of the sale price

Montijo Retail Park, in the town of Montijo, has 17,700 square metres of retail space as well as 803 car parking spaces.

The main tenants in the fully leased building are the home furnishings retailer Conforama, the DIY and also gardening products retailer Leroy Merlin, both of which have their head offices in France, the British sports good retailer Sports Direct, and the Portuguese furniture retailer Espaco Casa.

Cushman & Wakefield advised Commerz Real on the transaction. Commerz Real AG Commerz Real is a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG with more than 45 years of market experience and approximately €3 billion in assets under management.

The four-star Palazzo Zichy and Parliament hotels are in Central Budapest.

Off-market Budapest hotels acquired for €22m

The Palazzo Zichy, Budapest
The Palazzo

HUNGARY
ECHO Partners AG has acquired two hotels through its Luxembourg hotel fund ECHO Fund SCS.

They follow on shortly from the acquisition of the Radisson Blu Park Royal in Vienna on 19 July 2019 to help establish a diversified Continental European hotel portfolio.

ECHO Partners was able to demonstrate its capability to quickly close transactions via off-market sourcing.

The assets have a combined purchase price of 22M, an implied acquisition yield of 6.0%, exceeding ECHO’s target of 5%, and also a remaining Weighted Average Unexpired Lease Term (WAULT) of seven years.

The hotels’ combined 145 rooms achieved an occupancy rate exceeding 90% in recent years.

The tenant contract is a triple net contract that guarantees maximum cash flow conversion for ECHO and its investors. The acquisition has been financed via a long-term loan at approximately 50% loan-to-value and also a fixed interest rate below 2% p.a.

Both hotels are in the inner city of Budapest and are also ranked among the top 10 Hotels in the Budapest, according to TripAdvisor. Budapest is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations with an expected double-digit increase in room rates in line with historical growth rates above 10% p.a. in recent years.

Vitus Eckert, Founding Partner of ECHO, says, “The acquisitions exceed again our clearly defined acquisition criteria and are highly attractive for our investors. Furthermore, both hotels offer significant further upside potential in one of the most rapidly growing European hotel markets.”

Source: https://www.echopartners.fund/press/echo-aquires-two-hotels-in-budapest.html

For more commercial property deals, see https://www.consorto.com/blog/high-tech-smart-office-sold-in-berlin-and-other-cre-deals/