LONDON—Perseus Capital Partners is embarking on a plan to build a portfolio of hotels in the French Alps.
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Alpine skiing at Hôtel Le Val Thorens in Savoie, France, which was acquired last month by Perseus Capital Partners. |
The London-based private investment partnership last month announced it acquired the 81-room Hôtel Le Val Thorens in Savoie, France. The company plans to renovate the property and upgrade it from a 3-star hotel to a 4-star hotel. Valéry Grégo, a partner at Perseus, said the company sees plenty of “upside” for hotels in the French Alps region. All told, Perseus plans to piece together a portfolio of three or four hotels in the French Alps.
Overall in Europe, Grégo said his company anticipates revenue-per-available-room growth in Europe in 2012 of 5% including inflation.
“With capital and know-how you can really have some value creation or turnaround stories,” he said.
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Grégo declined to identify how much Perseus spent to acquire the property, but he said a 3-star property with good RevPAR could command a price of €200,000 per room (US$274,662 per room). “Could be less on a good deal, much, much more in some places.”
Financing
The company did use debt to acquire the hotel, though Grégo did not identify how much. He said loan to value “on good products” is more than 50% but below 70%.
“Debt is fairly available for investors with a good track record, existing relationships and good projects,” he said.
Grégo said the equity base of the acquisition fund is in excess of €100 million (US$137.34 million.) “We have a large equity base,” he said.
In addition to the Le Val Thorens hotel, Perseus will likely close on one additional deal: an unspecified 150-room hotel in Paris, Grégo said.