CDL acquires Paris trophy hotel from Blackstone

PARIS – Singaporean real estate magnet Kwek Leng Beng has acquired another trophy asset in the 268-room Hilton Paris Opéra. His City Developments Limited’s (CDL) wholly owned subsidiary Copthorne Hotel Holdings Ltd. finalized the freehold deal initially rumored in March from Blackstone for €240 million (US$258.8 million).

The deal gives the developer three hotels with 670 rooms in the French capital which will host this summer’s Olympic Games, including the 163-room M Social Hotel Paris Opera and the 239-room Millennium Hotel Paris Charles de Gaulle. Both of these hotels are owned and operated by Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, CDL’s wholly owned hotel subsidiary.

The Hilton Paris Opéra is located in Paris' prestigious 8th arrondissement on the Rue Saint-Lazare

CDL Executive Chairman Kwek said, “This acquisition provides us with the rare opportunity to enhance our hospitality portfolio with a trophy asset, expand our presence in a key gateway city in Europe ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics and bolster our recurring income with potential for value-add.”

The city is expected to receive more than 15 million visitors over the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games period starting in July. CoStar already reported that more than 50% of Paris hotels were booked for the Games with rates on event days soaring 314% above average.

In light of the Games tailwinds, it is not surprising that transactions for Paris hotels increased 79% in 2023 over the previous year with volume reaching €2.39 billion, an increase of 11% over 2019 volume.

Blackstone acquired the property, then known as the Concorde Opéra in Paris, in 2013 for €153 million (US$165 million). It then spent about $50 million on a renovation and rebranded the property in 2015. It is located in the prestigious 8th arrondissement of Paris and enjoys almost 100 meters of direct street frontage on Rue Saint-Lazare.

The deal marks CDL’s third major acquisition of a European real estate asset from a Blackstone fund in the past several years, including last year’s deal for the St Katharine Docks complex in London for £395 million (then $468.2 million).

Last year, CDL acquired the 416-key Sofitel Brisbane Central from Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management for A$177.7 million (then $119 million), as well as a Seoul hotel for $110 million and a hotel in Osaka for $58 million.

In its earnings release last week, CDL reported that its revenue jumped 50% in 2023 to reach an all-time high of S$4.9 billion ($3.6 billion).