Swedish hotel owner Pandox has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of three Residence Inn aparthotels totalling 503 rooms in London, UK, from American private equity firm Starwood Capital Group, for £230 million (£457,000 per room). The subject properties, operated by London-based Axiom Hospitality under management agreements, are the 315-room Residence Inn by Marriott London Kensington, the 101-room Residence Inn by Marriott London Bridge and the 87-room Residence Inn by Marriott Tower Bridge. Pandox expects the three aparthotels to bring in an initial £34 million in revenues and net operating income of £17 million (at a 50% NOI margin), reflecting a yield of over 7%. These properties will double Pandox’s presence in London, and were acquired with available cash funds and a green bank loan. HVS performed advisory services for Pandox.
LaSalle acquires Motel One London Tower Hill from Abrdn
US-based real estate investor LaSalle Investment Management, on behalf of a UK custom account client, has acquired the three-star, 291-room Motel One London Tower Hill in London, UK, from Edinburgh-based investment and asset management firm Abrdn, for £56 million (£192,000 per room). The asset, leased to Munich-based hotel operator Motel One under a long-term inflation-linked lease, was constructed in 2014. It is located in the City of London near the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Motel One presently operates in eleven European countries and its portfolio comprises 94 hotels totalling over 26,000 rooms.
Aquila Capital divests Room Mate Alba Hotel in Madrid
Hamburg-based investment management firm Aquila Capital has sold the four-star, 80-room Room Mate Alba Hotel in Madrid, Spain, to an undisclosed private investor, for €32.5 million (€406,000 per room). The property is located in the city-centre just a short walk from Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace of Madrid. Opened in 2019, the hotel will remain under the management of TPG Angelo and Westmont Hospitality’s Room Mate group. Room Mate’s portfolio currently comprises 23 hotels across key Spanish and notable European cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, London, Rome and Rotterdam.
Leonardo Hotels acquires Hard Rock Hotel Dublin from Apollo
Leonardo Hotels, the European division of Israeli owner-operator Fattal Hotel Group, has acquired the four-star, 120-room Hard Rock Hotel Dublin in Ireland from US-based private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The hotel, which opened in 2020, was operated by Ireland’s TIFCO Hotel Group, one of the country’s largest operators with some 3,000 rooms, under a franchise agreement with Hard Rock. The property was brought to market for roughly €80 million (€667,000 per room). Following its acquisition, the property is set to be rebranded under Leonardo’s lifestyle boutique hotel brand NYX and thereby trade as the NYX Hotel Dublin Christchurch. With this sale there are now no Hard Rock hotels remaining in the UK or Ireland after the Hard Rock Hotel London rebranded last year. The group has six remaining hotels in Europe and around 20 in the US, and last month announced it would launch a new guitar-shaped hotel on the former site of Las Vegas’s iconic Mirage hotel and resort.
French investment manager Corum, via its open-end real estate fund CORUM XL, has acquired the three-star, 140-room Premier Inn Birmingham City Centre (New St. Station) hotel in the UK from UK-based commercial property investment manager Orchard Street IM. The hotel was acquired as part of the Exchange Buildings mixed-use asset acquisition, at approximately £23 million, which included four retail units, rooftop telecoms, two restaurants and HSBC offices. The asset has been acquired on a 200-year long leasehold basis, with the ground lease originally commencing in March 2015. CORUM XL was launched in 2017 and invests in both Europe and international markets, whilst aiming for a 10% 10-year return rate.
Art-Invest acquires Holiday Inn Express Furth in Germany from RMA
German investor Art-Invest Real Estate, on behalf of one of its core budget hotel funds, has acquired the three-star, 149-room Holiday Inn Express Furth, in Furth, Germany, from domestic development firm RMA Management. The town of Furth adjoins the city of Nuremberg in northern Bavaria, and the hotel is situated in Furth’s centre near its town hall. The property is only some ten kilometres from Nuremberg Castle. The construction of the asset began in 2020, and the hotel was delivered by RMA in the second quarter of 2022. Since then, the property has been managed by German operator Tristar GmbH under a long term lease agreement. Art-Invest’s portfolio counts approximately 35 primarily business hotels across Germany, Austria and the UK.
Portuguese real estate investor Square Asset Management, via its Property Core Real Estate Fund, has acquired the four-star, 100-room Hotel Caracol on the island of Terceira in Portugal, from domestic private investment firm ECS Capital. Located in the Azores archipelago, a group of islands situated some 1,500 kilometres west of the country’s capital city of Lisbon, the coastal hotel includes a restaurant, meeting and conference spaces for up to 200 people, and both indoor and outdoor pools. A lease agreement has been struck with Acores 2000 for the operation of the hotel as part of the transaction. Square AM’s Property Core Real Estate had some €84 million in assets under management as of July 2024, and this acquisition marks the fund’s first hotel asset. Across its various funds, Square AM manages a total of some €1.9 billion in assets.
