Azora has completed the final close of its latest pan-European hospitality fund, Azora European Hotel & Lodging, raising €815 million in total commitments.
The total is a 36% uplift over the original €600 million target. The increase in the hard cap (up from €750 million) has allowed Azora to accommodate new investors, comprising a large European pension fund, two large insurance companies (based in Europe and the US respectively) and two European family offices.
Taking financial leverage into account, the fund has an investment capacity of more than €1.8 billion, of which around €730 million has already been committed, through four transactions (including the seed portfolio).
These include:
- two hotels in the Algarve region in Portugal for €148 million, through a 20-year sale and management transaction with Minor International
- the acquisition of the Arenas Resort Giverola in Costa Brava (Spain), prior to a €40 million repositioning project
- the luxury 5* Vilalara Thalassa Resort hotel in the Algarve region.
These new acquisitions bring the fund's total portfolio to 4,600 keys in tourism-focused hotels, in both sun and beach and urban locations.
“This fund is a continuation of our successful strategy in the hotel sector, which began more than ten years ago. Throughout the pandemic we maintained our long-held conviction on the European leisure hotel and resorts market, which has already allowed us to build a significant high-quality portfolio and to position our fund ahead of competitors, with a strong pipeline of future opportunities,” Concha Osácar, founding partner at Azora, said.
“Our continuous focus on the sector has allowed us to become a leading European player in hospitality and has led us to increase our original target and hard cap to accommodate additional investors´ demand. For our Fund, the pandemic has created and will continue to create additional opportunities over and above those originally envisaged.”