The partnership was launched through a formal tender, the acquisition of NPL’s debt and a portflio of 9 four star hotels in Spain, formerly belonging to contruction group Urvasco.
This portfolio includes 1.650 rooms in hotels in Seville, Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Santander, Tenerife, Valladolid and CIudad Real. Hoteles Silken will operate the assets through a long term deal established with the joint venture, as part of a full repositioning program.
Alexander van Riel, in charge of CBRE GIP for Western Europe, notes in a release: «we have entered the Spanish hotel market for the first time with the acquisition of a much sought-after portfolio. This transaction is in line with our global strategy to create strategic joint ventures with experts in the sector».
And he adds that «we will generate value thourgh selective actions of added value and at the same time we will benefit from the stable and safe flow of stays. In time, we will make additional investments in hotels with indexed rentals», he concludes.
Christophe Beauvilain, founding partner at Pygmalion Capital Advisers LLP, added that «this alliance underlines our vision for the market of buying, at desirable prices, a pan-European portfolio of businesses and hotels, taking advantage of the special circumstances provided by the growing market of bad loans (NPL) which exists in Europe. The combination of European banks which remain highly exposed to bad loans and the countless debt funds which have been actively buying NPL portflios, provides a large source of opportunities to invest and for our specialised strategy. Silken’s hotel portfolio provides us with a solid basis to carry out a fast expansion in the Spanish market given our growing flow of investment opportunities», says the release.
Cuatrecasas law firm, directed by Fernando Bernad Ripoll, provided legal assistance. Christie & Co and JLL carried out the commercial and technical due diligence respectively.