GIC acquires more hospitality assets in southern Europe

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund is acquiring from Blackstone Group a 35% stake in Spanish hotel group Hotel Investment Partner (HIP), which has a portfolio that includes 72 hotels with more than 21,000 keys across Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal. In a deal that reportedly values HIP at more than €4 billion, Blackstone will continue to be the majority shareholder, holding approximately 65% of the hotel company founded in 2015.

HIP has pursued an acquisition and repositioning strategy for well-located but under-invested hotels, spending more than €600 million into the platform and partnering with global hotel operators including Ritz-Carlton, Barceló, Melia, Hyatt, Hilton, Ledra and Marriott. A recent opening was an all-inclusive resort in Mallorca, Spain.

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.

Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas, HIP

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The move cuts leverage for Blackstone, which bought HIP in 2017 from Banco Sabadell, and is expected to provide a new source of capital for the expanding business at a moment when lending costs are higher than they have been in several years.

“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,” said Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas, founder and CEO of HIP. “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.”

For GIC, the move furthers its growing hotel real estate portfolio in Europe, adding to last year’s high-profile, €2.3 billion acquisition of Mediterranean luxury resort operator Sani/Ikos Group.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Blackstone and invest in one of the most established Mediterranean Europe hospitality platforms,” said Lee Kok Sun, CIO, Real Estate, at GIC. “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 capitalizing on the growing global and domestic demand for high quality Mediterranean resorts.”