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1. Malaysia’s IOI to launch real estate investment trust
Putrajaya, Malaysia-based IOI Properties Group, a subsidiary of Vertical Capacity, plans to launch a real estate investment trust, according to an April 10 stock exchange filing. The filing said the REIT will be seeded with retail, office and hotel assets valued at about 7.58 billion Malaysian ringgit ($1.9 billion).
Bloomberg added “IOI Properties will retain a 60% stake in the REIT, and the proceeds will help [it] repay borrowings (and) fund development.” IOI’s hotels include the 488-room Marriott Putrajaya, 249-room Four Points by Sheraton Puchong and 150-room W Kuala Lumpur.
In its latest earnings report, IOI said it had “registered a 42% increase in revenue to 2.01 billion Malaysian ringgit … The strong growth was driven by robust performance across all three core business segments, with the property development, property investment and hospitality and leisure segments registering commendable growth of 33%, 39% and 77%, respectively.”
2. Miami Mandarin Oriental demolished
On Sunday morning, the 26-year-old, 326-room Mandarin Oriental, Miami, on Brickell Key, was demolished in a controlled explosion, the Associated Press reports. Property owner Swire Properties said that by 2030 the site will be the home of the “The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, a two-tower ultraluxury hotel and residential development,” according to the Associated Press.
The AP added the hotel collapsed in less than 20 seconds and that Miami residents living within 800 feet of the site were requested to stay indoors with windows and doors closed during the blast.
3. Mallorca hotel floor collapses, forcing evacuation
A section of flooring in the restaurant of the 416-room Zafiro Rey Don Jaime in Mallorca gave way on Saturday, resulting in injuries and the evacuation of the hotel, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports. The newspaper added that “there were 520 people staying at the hotel, the majority of them British.”
The local authority fire and rescue and service said recent heavy rains had raised the water table, which in turn had a significant effect on the structure of the Zafiro Rey Don Jaime. According to CoStar, the hotel was built in 1971 and renovated in 2014. The hotel has been temporarily closed, and guests have been relocated to other hotels.
4. Nordic hotel industry embraces new capital and business models
The Nordic region — Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland — has proved to be a difficult market to enter for international hotel ownership and management firms, but experts at the recent International Hospitality Investment Forum EMEA in Berlin said this is changing. Yet the growth of the luxury hotel segment in the region might take awhile, CoStar News reports.
“A lot of institutional investors outside of the Nordics are coming in, from Germany, from France. The currency play is still a barrier, but investors are getting creative to get in,” said Stefan Giesemann, managing director of hotel capital markets for Europe, Middle East and Africa at JLL.
5. Oil prices rise after failed US-Iran talks
Following the failure of weekend talks between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict in the Middle East, markets reacted unfavorably. The piece of oil per barrel once again increased to more than $100 per barrel, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to block Iranian sections of the Straits of Hormuz, The New York Times reports.
The price per barrel of Brent Crude, the benchmark for oil prices, was $102.20 at press time, according to OilPrice.com. The New York Times added the blockade is to start at 5:30 p.m. Tehran time or 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Trump has insisted other countries will aid the U.S. in blockading the strait, yet U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “countries together to keep the straits open, not shut.”