GREECE
Henderson Park, the European real estate investment platform, and Hines, the international real estate firm, have acquired a portfolio of five Crete hotels.
The purchase, comprising two separate transactions, marks the joint venture’s second foray into the Greek hotel market, following the acquisition in 2017 of the former Ledra hotel. It was transformed by Hines and Henderson Park into the five-star Grand Hyatt hotel, now one of Athens’ finest and most successful hotels.
The five Crete hotels
The 1,094-room five Crete hotels portfolio of around 67,000 square meters is made up of five seafront hotels in key resort locations across the island:
- Hermes and Coral, two adjacent hotels with 218 and 170 rooms respectively, centrally located in the coastal city of Agios Nikolaos
- Santa Marina and Apollonia, with 208 and 336 rooms respectively, with prime seafront locations in Crete’s capital city, Heraklion, which is just 5km from the island’s main international airport
- a 162-room resort and spa hotel located in Sitia, a coastal town on the west of the island.
All the five Crete hotels have strong track records of occupancy levels and offer uplift through restructuring of the ownership and capital structure, as well as significant potential to create value over the medium and long term through refurbishment, brand repositioning and proactive management at the asset level.
Crete is Greece’s largest island and most established resort destination. The Mediterranean island’s appeal is driven by its longer than average holiday season, running from April through to October, as well as its accessibility with a full ferry schedule and three airports, including the new international airport at Kasteli, which will be able to accommodate all sizes of passenger aircraft.
Henderson Park and Hines will bring their local and international hotel asset management expertise to these latest acquisitions in Crete, having successfully repositioned and enhanced numerous other hotel projects around the world. Y&T Daskalantonakis Knossian Group, a specialist asset manager of upscale and luxury hotels, has also been instructed by the joint venture as local operating partner, responsible for managing the hotels.
Bounce back
Nick Weber, Founding Partner of Henderson Park, says, “While the leisure industry has no doubt been temporarily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, we are firm believers that it will bounce back. With this transaction we have been able to provide a solution to a distressed situation and gain control of a number of high quality, high-potential assets in a globally leading tourist destination at an attractive entry basis.
“Government plans to begin reopening Greece are reaffirming our overall investment thesis and we have strong conviction in the significant repositioning opportunities that have been identified to enhance longer term value. We are pleased to be working with Hines on yet another exciting Greek hospitality project where we believe our combined global expertise and institutional approach will give us a distinct competitive advantage in a market, where hotel ownership is surprisingly fragmented and characterised by many local owner-operators.”
Paul Gomopoulos, Senior Managing Director and country head for Greece at Hines says, “While the headwinds from the global pandemic will clearly have a material impact on the leisure and hospitality sectors, we have confidence in the mid to long term prospects and as such are committed to pursuing further opportunities in this market. We are looking forward to continuing our successful partnership with Henderson Park, which offers a very effective combination of international expertise and local knowledge.”
Finance for the five Crete hotels transaction was provided by Piraeus Bank. Hines and Henderson Park were advised by the Lambadarios law firm.
Fully-let mixed-use Paul Carré property bought
GERMANY
Kingstone Investment Management (Kingstone IM) has bought the mixed-use property Paul Carré in Erlangen from S&P Commercial Development, a holding company of the Sontowski & Partner Group.
The Bavaria property has been acquired for the Kingstone Growth Regions Southern Germany fund.
The district, which comprises 11,000 square meters of rental space, is already fully let and is under construction. Completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021.
The new building on Paul-Gossen-Straße combines office, hotel and commercial use on a main traffic axis of the city. It is directly opposite the new Siemens Campus – a comprehensive district development of the technology group of the same name with around 420,000 square meters of office and living space. The Friedrich Alexander University is within walking distance and the city center of Erlangen can be reached in a few minutes by public transport.
Excellent location
Dr. Tim Schomberg, Managing Partner of Kingstone IM says, “The Paul Carré benefits from its excellent location. The proximity to the Siemens campus and the university results in strong synergy effects for a mixed-use building. With the transaction we are securing a new building for our investors in a long-term attractive location.”
S&P Commercial Development, in Erlangen, already fully let the quarter in summer 2019. Leases were signed with the main tenants for at least 15 years.
Sven Sontowski, managing partner of S&P Commercial Development GmbH, says, “The early letting successes underscore the quality of the project. Erlangen, which is already economically strong, has developed into a center for innovative companies in recent years. The Paul Carré mix of uses fits perfectly into this environment.”
The Paul Carré is already the eighth property purchased for the Kingstone growth regions in southern Germany fund.
Kingstone IM launched the real estate special fund with a total target volume of at least €300 million in summer 2019.
The vehicle primarily invests in core office and commercial properties in selected growth regions in southern Germany and is aimed at institutional investors. Participations are possible from €3 million euros equity.
Source: https://www.sontowski.de/2020/06/erlangen-sontowski-partner-veraeussert-paul-carre-an-kingstone/
PATRIZIA buys Barcelona automotive industrial park for €26m
SPAIN
PATRIZIA AG is acquiring a major automotive industrial estate in the Abrera district of Barcelona for €26 million.
The Parque Industrial de Proveedores de SEAT (PIPS) houses suppliers to the carmaker SEAT in six logistics warehouses, plus one office.
The 48,000 square meter park is the largest such logistics deal in Barcelona this year. It brings the total AuM figure for PATRIZIA logistics in Spain close to €550 million. The park has connections to the AP-7 and A-2 motorways.
Eduardo de Roda, Country Manager of PATRIZIA in Iberia, says, “Despite the uncertainty that we all face this year in Spain and around the world, we continue to trust in the solid foundations of the Spanish economy, and especially in the continuous and solid demand for first-class logistics assets such as the ones we are acquiring.
“Our team has been able to identify and negotiate the acquisition of this portfolio of assets, in which it constitutes the largest operation carried out in Barcelona so far this year. We also hope that there will be equally exceptional opportunities in the nearest future, as the real estate market continues to open.”
Colliers International and Haya Real Estate provided financial and real estate advice.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/company/patrizia-ag/
More European hotel acquisition news here.
