The new “reinforcements” are a hotel in Lisbon and another in the German city of Kiel, a combined investment of 32.7 million euros, boosting to 500 million euros the value of assets managed by the fund, now a total of 14
The Steigenberger Conti Hansa Hotel in Kiel was acquired for 16.7 million euros from K/S Schlossgarten Kiel, a Norwegian investment group. In Lisbon, the Lux Park Hotel was bought from the Portuguese Lux Hotel Group, for 16 million euros.
These transactions add to the purchase, last summer, of the NH Ambasciatori in the Italian city of Turin, thus completing the reinvestment plan of 80 million euros made from the sale of the Maritim Dresden and Ibis City West hotels in Munich, finalised in the first semester of last year. Located in the historic centre of Kiel, by the Castle and the Old City, the four star Steigenberger Hotel has 164 bedrooms, two restaurants, a bar, 11 meeting rooms, and a modern gymnasium. The hotel is operated by Deutsche Hospitality through its Steigenberger brand, and with which the new owner has a long term rental agreement. Now that the purchase is completed, Internos will now invest another five million euros in it, with the aim of improving quality and thus maximising profit potential and its value.
In Lisbon, the four star Lux Park Hotel is located near the Marquês de Pombal near Amoreiras, benefitting from the proximity of the main centre of luxury brand shopping in the Portuguese capital, the Avenida da Liberdade and just 500 metres away from some of the most luxurious hotels in the city, the Four Seasons and the Intercontinental Hotel. This high-quality hotel has 95 bedrooms, a restaurant, bar, and a rooftop swimming pool and bar with views over Lisbon and the sea. The work on the hotel was finished at the end of last year by the former owner, the Lux Hotel Group, and was acquired by Internos as a sales & leaseback agreement.
These acquisitions are part of the reinvestment and asset management strategy of the fund, which since its first capital closure distributed annual dividends of more than 8% and reached annual returns of 12% per annum. This result is mainly due to the fact of having fixed rents, long-term contracts and a low interest rate on fund financing, which should continue to generate higher annual returns in the coming years, Internos predicts.
“After the successful disposal of the two hotels earlier this year that allowed us to achieve IRR returns in excess of the Fund’s target returns, these latest two hotel acquisitions allowed us to reinvest the capital within the Eurozone from more mature markets into markets with more growth potential and again in high quality hotels which combine the potential to add value with good running returns. These acquisitions close the investment period of the first INTERNOS Hotel Real Estate Fund, consequently we will now focus on the second INTERNOS Hotel Real Estate Funds with its Core+ / Value Add Strategy and other, existing hotel mandates. For this new fund and our existing mandates, we have more than € 300 million of capital available and therefore continue actively to look for hotel investment opportunities Europe-wide according to the various strategies and risk-profiles”, commented Jochen Schäfer-Surén, partner in charge of managing the INTERNOS’ Hotel and Leisure division.
International Internos Global Investors is a European fund manager for real estate with more than 3,700 million in assets under their management