The CEE Investment Team at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels & Hospitality Group has acted as the exclusive sales agents and advisors to Quinn Insurance and its administrators at Grant Thornton Dublin in the sale of two prime hotels in Central Europe achieving a combined price of €62 million. CMS acted as legal advisors to Quinn Insurance throughout the sales process.
The Sheraton Krakow hotel is a modern 232 bedroom hotel that opened in 2004 and is located in a prominent position on the banks of the river Vistula, close to the historic Wawel castle in Poland’s second largest city. Krakow is also particularly famous for its historic architecture and is arguably Poland’s top tourist destination. The French specialist hotel company Algonquin acquired the Sheraton hotel for c. €38 million, representing a price per key of around €164,000.
The Hilton Sofia hotel is an example of a contemporary corporate-led hotel operated by Hilton on a management contract and is located approximately 2km from the city centre on a highly prominent position on a busy arterial road. The hotel generated a lot of interest from local buyers, and after a competitive bidding process, was sold for c. €24 million (c. €98,000 per key) to a consortium of local businessmen.
Brendan Foster, Partner at Grant Thornton Dublin, said; “We are delighted with the result, although both sales took over 10 months to complete, it shows the high level of focus and specialist skills from both JLL H&H and CMS to get the deal done.”
Angus Wade, Executive Vice President at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels & Hospitality Group London, said; “These sales represent the first large corporate hotel transactions in the CEE region for approximately 3 years. Increased interest in this region has been triggered by a mismatch in pricing with core Western European markets and we expect 2014 to be an interesting year for investors looking for secure investments in CEE. Our experience in this sale puts Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels & Hospitality Group in a strong position to dominate these types of sales in the region.”
Thomas Page, Head of the Hotel & Leisure Group for CMS London said; “Both transactions involved highly complex legal and financing structures and working with our local offices in each market we were able to provide our client with sector-specific legal advice and local intelligence in order to get the deals closed in the most efficient and risk free manner.”
