Paris-based investment and asset-management firm Eurazeo, via its division Eurazeo Real Estate, has sold its stake in Spanish firm FST Hotels and its three hotels left in its portfolio.
A news release from publicly listed Eurazeo stated that the “transaction marks the culmination of the investment cycle initiated in 2022, with the acquisition, through a joint venture, of FST Hotels by Eurazeo and a leading institutional investor.”
When Eurazeo first invested in FST Hotels back in 2022 for an undisclosed price, the Spanish hotel company's portfolio included five hotels and 800 rooms, all operated under the Ayre brand. The five hotels are now all affiliated with IHG Hotels & Resorts brands.
Eurazeo previously sold two of the five hotels: the 100-room Hotel Indigo Bordeaux Centre Chartrons in France and 162-room Hotel Indigo Florence in Italy.
The three hotels left in FST Hotels' portfolio are the 197-room Voco Madrid Retiro, that brand’s debut in Spain; 189-room Hotel Indigo Barcelona Gran Via Plaza España; and 157-room Crowne Plaza Madrid Retiro Center. All three hotels reopened as their IHG-affiliated brands in April 2024.
Eurazeo added that following renovations to all five properties, “the non-strategic regional assets were first sold, generating substantial capital gains, before the group focused on repositioning the Barcelona and Madrid hotels.”
Eurazeo said the transaction was completed at a valuation in line with the latest reported net asset values of the hotels and that “over the life of the investment, total distributions to the joint venture partners amounted to approximately €100 million ($114 million), including [approximately] €50 million ($57 million) attributable to Eurazeo’s balance sheet.”
Following Eurazeo’s exit, the three Spanish hotels will still be operated by Eurazeo’s operations division, Grape Hospitality. Eurazeo owns 70% of Grape Hospitality.
In June 2024, Eurazeo agreed to sell 23 hotels in France operated by Grape to a consortium formed by owners Swiss Life and Amundi and operator B&B Hotels.
At that time, Eurazeo said the deal would result in a “15% premium to the value of the portfolio in Eurazeo’s accounts as of Dec. 31, 2023. It is expected to generate net proceeds of approximately €35 million ($40 million) for Eurazeo’s balance sheet.”