Blackstone Group is to sell a stake in Hotel Investment Partners to Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.
The deal will see GIC take a 35 per cent stake in the company, with Blackstone keeping hold of the rest. It values HIP at more than €4 billion, according to the Financial Times.
The acquisition is the latest big bet on the European hotel sector by GIC and also shows the power of sovereign wealth funds in an era of high interest rates.
Since 2017, HIP has pursued an acquisition and repositioning strategy for well-located but under-invested hotels, investing more than €600 million into the platform.
HIP partners with major global hotel operators including Barceló, Melia, Hyatt, Hilton, Ledra and Marriott, and has a portfolio of 72 hotels, totalling over 21,000 keys across Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal, with 10,000 people employed across its hotels. Fifty-four of its hotels are certified BREEAM Very Good.
What they said
Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas, founder and CEO of HIP, said: “This partnership with GIC, alongside the controlling interest from Blackstone, is a further vote of confidence in the HIP business and the resort hospitality sector in Europe. The partners’ cumulative size, scale and capital will bolster our ability to continue the transformation of the hotel landscape in Southern Europe. The fundamentals of the Southern European hotel market continue to be strong with revenue booked for the balance of the year over 20% ahead of last year.”
Lee Kok Sun, Chief Investment Officer, Real Estate, GIC, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Blackstone and invest in one of the most established Mediterranean Europe hospitality platforms. We look forward to working with Blackstone and HIP’s management team as they continue to deliver on HIP’s strategy to enhance existing assets, while capitalising on the growing global and domestic demand for high quality Mediterranean resorts.”