Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2000- Jones Lang
LaSalle Hotels arranged the sale of the four-star, 277-room Marriott Hamburg to Strategic Hotel Capital (SHC) -- a global hotel investment company based in Chicago -- and GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd (GIC RE), the real estate
investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. Billa AB, a subsidiary of Volvo, the well-known automobile company, sold the property. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels acted on behalf of SHC.
Hamburg has been one of the more stable hotel markets in Germany; it showed good growth over the past 18 months,
said Christoph Harle, Senior Vice President and former head of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' German team. Due to the market, the location, the barriers to entry and the quality of the property, the Marriott Hamburg ideally fits
Strategic Hotel Capital's desired hotel profile.
This sale illustrates the continuing trend of U.S. buyers seeking hotel properties in key strategic European
locations, added Arthur Adler, Managing Director, Americas, of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. Properties such as the Mariott Hamburg provide strong and stable yields in a market with high barriers to entry. U.S. buyers are
interested in properties both subject to management and brand, as well as those that can be re-branded.
For years Germans have been predicting when
U.S. investors would enter into the German hotel market, Harle continued. The market went through some difficult years; however, now the short to medium term outlook is very positive with some markets showing yield
improvements in excess of 20% during 1999. One deterrent (for U.S. investors in Germany) is the fixed-income lease contracts typically associated with German hotels. This means that the trading upside is in the hands of the operator, and the owner receives a fixed
annual income. The Marriott Hamburg was a rare opportunity for an international investor since the hotel has a management contract with underlying guarantees rather than a fixed-income lease. Therefore, SHC is
well positioned to take advantage of the economic and hotel market upturn in the next few years.
The hotel contains 4,500 square feet of meeting space and is within walking distance of many principal office
buildings, shopping arcades, Alster Lake, The Messe and the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH).
In 1999, SHC and GIC RE formed a joint venture to acquire first-class and luxury hotels throughout Europe. The
Marriott Hamburg is the joint venture's second acquisition; the Hotel Inter-Continental Praha was its first.
GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd (GIC RE) is the real estate investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. Pte Ltd (GIC). Set up as a private company in 1981 and wholly owned by the Government of Singapore, the GIC manages the foreign reserves of Singapore. With funds in excess of U.S. $70 billion, its activities include investments in listed and unlisted equities, bonds, foreign exchange and real estate.
A privately held firm founded in 1997, SHC targets upscale and luxury hotels on a global basis for acquisition. It seeks larger hotels (more than 200 rooms) managed by a group of very select, preferred operators. Since its inception, SHC has assembled a portfolio of properties in the United States, Mexico and Europe.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, the leading hotel investment banking services group in the world, provides clients with
value-added investment opportunities and advice. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' services include transactions, mergers and acquisitions, financial advice and capital raising, valuation and appraisal, asset management, strategic planning, operator assessment and selection and industry research. Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) is the world's leading real estate services and investment management firm, operating across more than 100 key markets on five continents.
To Visit The Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels Web Site Click Here
|
Post Release
Get Content
Email News Brief
Saved Articles
Advertising
Handheld
XML/RSS
Post News