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1. Japan's Nippon real estate investment trust acquires two hotels
Japanese real estate investment trust Nippon REIT has agreed to acquire two hotels as part of a 17.4 billion yen ($118 million) Japanese portfolio deal that also includes two offices and a research and development facility, according to a news release from the company. The company's Aug. 15 investor presentation notes the deal is Nippon REIT’s entry into the hotel industry. The report added the deal is the “start of [our] investment in inflation-resilient hotels and change in asset category investment ratios.”
The two hotels are the 132-room Resol Stay Akihabara and 190-room Smile Hotel Premium Hakodate Goryokaku, both of which are being sold by Japanese developer Sankei. Nippon is acquiring the first hotel for 6.25 billion yen and the second for 2.7 billion yen.
2. Peachtree Group closes $176.5 million loan on Las Vegas Rio hotel
Peachtree Group have closed the largest credit transaction in its history via a $176.5 million C-PACE loan for Dreamscape Company's renovation of the 2,520-room Rio Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, according to Gaming America. C-PACE stands for commercial property assessed clean energy.
Gaming America added the financing was completed in under 60 days, “retroactively funded the resort’s renovations and enabled the repayment of senior debt.” The deal also was one of the largest ever C-PACE financings in the U.S.
“This deal highlights an inflection point for C-PACE, with some of the nation’s largest financial institutions consenting to its use because they see the clear benefit to the capital stack,” said Jared Schlosser, head of originations and C-PACE at Peachtree.
3. Australian court fines Qantas record sum for COVID layoffs
Airline Qantas has been fined a record amount by an Australian court for firing more than 1,800 airport ground workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Australian news outlet SBS News. The court handed Australia's largest airline a fine of 90 million Australian dollars ($58.5 million), which concludes five years of arguments over the airline’s decision to outsource ground crews in 2020.
Qantas was ordered to pay AU$50 million of the penalty directly to Australia’s Transport Workers’ Union, which filed suit against the airline. Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said in the judgement that the large fine was due to the “sheer scale of the contraventions, being the largest of their type. … To deprive someone of work illegally is to deprive someone of an aspect of their human dignity, and this is not assuaged simply by expressions of regret.”
4. Eurozone shows June exports surplus of €7 billion
In June, the Eurozone showed a €7 billion ($8.18 billion) surplus in exports globally, although that figure was down year over year from €20.7 billion. The region's trade with the U.S. was down by 10.3% year over year according to Eurostat.
“In January to June 2025, the EU recorded a surplus of €80.1 billion, compared with €92.9 billion” in the same period the year before, Eurostat added.
5. Estimated number of hacked Italian tourists rises to 100,000
The hack of travel documentation in Italy now is believed to have affected 100,000 travelers, Biometric Update reports. Italian authorities said that a malicious hacker known as “mydocs” claims to have obtained biometric information between June and August from 10 hotels.
The number of hotels involved could rise, according to authorities. The Agency for Digital Italy said “the illegal sale was detected with the help of its national cybersecurity protection body, the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-AGID).”