Funds managed and/or advised by Pictet Alternative Advisors, the alternative investment division of the Swiss-based Pictet Group, have acquired the Expo Hotel Valencia, owned by Grupo Selenta. This deal represents the largest hotel transaction in Valencia since the beginning of the pandemic.
The three-star hotel is located on one of the city's main thoroughfares, Avenida Pío XII, just opposite the Alameda next to the Túria Gardens, and is very well served by public transport. It has 377 rooms in different categories, a restaurant, bar, outdoor swimming pool, terrace with panoramic views of the city and more than 1,500 sqm of space for meetings and events.
Pablo Granell, Head of Real Estate for Spain at Pictet Alternative Advisors, said: "This transaction demonstrates our conviction in the Spanish hotel market and in value-added strategies through the repositioning of assets and the search for the most suitable operators and brands for their consolidation. After a comprehensive refurbishment, following appropriate sustainability criteria, and under a first class international brand, the new Expo Hotel Valencia will become one of the city's benchmark hotels".
Jorge Ruiz, Head of Hotels Iberia at CBRE, said: "This transaction demonstrates the high investor and financier appetite for opportunities that offer a repositioning angle in the Spanish hotel market. The fundamentals of our industry remain strong, especially in established tourist destinations such as Valencia".
Pictet Alternative Advisors has completed a number of real estate transactions in Spain so far this year, with the purchase of two luxury residential projects in Madrid in the Salamanca and Chamberí neighbourhoods with Blasson and Lasabia respectively, the logistics centre in Vilanova del Camí (Barcelona) from Abacus and the Comotex production centre in Náquera (Valencia) in sale & leaseback transactions and the 5* Kimpton Aysla Mallorca hotel in Calviá (Mallorca), managed by Intercontinental Hotels Group under its luxury lifestyle brand Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.
CBRE has advised on the acquisition and financing of the hotel together with Uría Menéndez and Pérez Llorca.
