The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has completed a deal to buy two hotel portfolios in Spain in a joint venture with Meliá Hotels International.
As part of the deal ADIA will be working with newly formed asset manager Petra. Petra was created by Dominique Ozanne, Gael Le Lay and Elsa Tobelem, (all three formerly of Covivio). It will be managed in parallel with Hova Hospitality, the trio’s existing platform dedicated to lease investments with €1.4 billion of hotels under management.
ADIA, through the platform created with Petra, closed on the following acquisitions:
- 7 hotels in a JV with Meliá. The platform acquired a 51 per cent interest from US private equity group Avenue Capital in a seven-hotel portfolio and beach club in the Calvia area of Mallorca. The portfolio includes 2,331 rooms managed by Melia under the Meliá and Sol brands. The investment will be held in a joint venture with Meliá who will continue owning the remaining 49 per cent interest in the properties.
- 100 per cent of a 17-hotel Spanish portfolio totalling 2,587 rooms across 11 cities from private owners. The portfolio includes six properties in Madrid and eight resort properties which will be renovated and repositioned to maximize their performance. All the hotels are managed by Meliá.
Following the acquisitions, Petra will act as asset manager for the 24 hotels in the portfolio, covering 4,918 room across Spain and will continue to actively seek value-add hotel investment opportunities across Europe.
What they said
Mohamed Al Qubaisi, executive director of the real estate department at ADIA, said: “The robust recovery of leisure travel following the pandemic presents compelling investment opportunities in the hotel real estate market. The recent investments made through the new platform with Petra reflects our high conviction in the European hotel leisure sector.”
Dominique Ozanne, chairman and co-founder of Petra, said: “The European hotel real estate market remains highly fragmented and we believe Petra AM can be a leader in the institutionalization of the sector.”
Gael Le Lay, co-founder of Petra, added: “The value-add strategy for the two acquired portfolios will include a repositioning of the properties to unlock their full potential and, in turn, contribute to the renewal of the hospitality offer in a major European hotel market.”