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  • Transaction / Assets
  • Seller
  • Buyer
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Emilio Cuatrecasas Buys Empordà Golf For €20M

10 July 2017 – Expansión

Emilio Cuatrecasas is continuing his commitment to the Costa Brava. A group of investors led by his holding company, Emesa Corporación, is finalising the purchase of Empordà Golf Resort from Habitat Inmobiliaria for around €20 million. The operation involves two 18-hole golf course in Gualta (Girona) and a hotel complex, which has 87 rooms and which is managed by Double Tree by Hilton.

The resort had awakened interest from other investors, but in the end, the lawyer has taken the lead in the bidding. The operation will now begin a due diligence phase. The group led by Emesa will go on to control 90% of the capital of the sports facility given that the remaining 10% will continue in the hands of numerous small shareholders, who are also members of the golf course.

The complex was constructed in 1996 by the Figueras family – the former owners of Habitat – and, since the beginning, its members have included well-known Catalan business people, such as Emilio Cuatrecasas himself, Pedro Fontana and members of the Puig, Esteve and Uriach families. Besides the hotel, the resort includes a residential area, with rental apartments and homes.

The purchase of Empordà Golf will not see the asset form part of the chain of rural hotels that Emilio Cuatrecasas is promoting in the Empordá region. In 2016, the lawyer announced his intention of launching a new brand specialising in small, high-end hotels and last summer, he completed his first acquisition: a small palace in Ullastret, which he will transform into a hotel after investing €7 million. Although this asset is located in the lawyer’s target region, the hotel at Empordà Golf does not fit with the profile of unique buildings that he is looking for in that case.

Emesa groups together the business and real estate stakes owned by Cuatrecasas and its assets are worth more than €480 million.

Habitat, which is chaired by Bruno Figueras, continues under the control of banks and international funds.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés and J. Orihuel)

Translation: Carmel Drake