Cedar Capital finances lifestyle deal

LONDON – Cedar Capital Partners has secured a €200 million loan from Germany’s Aareal Bank to help acquire with Ares Management Corp. a pan-European portfolio of five lifestyle hotels under the Hoxton and Mama Shelter brands, all managed by Ennismore. The properties in Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Florence, Prague and Rome were sold by European private equity player Fidera Vecta for a reported €400 million ($417 million).

Three of the five assets — Hoxton, Rome, Hoxton, Amsterdam Lloyd, and Mama Shelter Prague — have undergone transformational renovations in recent years. The number of rooms has also expanded to 566 units. Hoxton Rome and Mama Shelter Prague qualify as green properties. The remaining two hotels are scheduled to open in 2025, including the 214-room Hoxton Edinburgh.

They're brand new, great quality assets – solid 5-star lifestyle hotels, which we really like. “It’s very hard to get anything in Europe, let alone new product and lifestyle that’s good and at great destinations.

Ramsey Mankarious

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“They’re fabulous assets,” Cedar Capital CEO Ramsey Mankarious told Hotel Investment Today. “They're brand new, great quality assets – solid 5-star lifestyle hotels, which we really like. It’s very hard to get anything in Europe, let alone new product and lifestyle that’s good and at great destinations.”

Mankarious said the funds came from a third raise by London-based Cedar Capital and he added that they have another $200 million or so to go as they continue to look for similarly positioned assets, preferably in Europe.

Cedar Capital has been active in the lifestyle space for the last five years and is preparing to open in May the repositioned Shelbourne by Proper on Collins Ave. in Miami Beach. The 251-room hotel is going through the final touches of a $100 renovation.

Cedar Capital is also the owner of the newly opened Auberge Resorts Collection-run property in Florence, Italy, called the Collegio alla Querce.

In fact, Cedar Capital Partners has acquired more than $4 billion of hotel assets across Europe and the U.S. with a focus on luxury, full-service and lifestyle hotels. The recapitalization of the assets was recently completed in cooperation with Ares Management Real Estate Secondaries Funds, which belongs to Ares Management Corp., a leading global alternative investment manager.