• Transaction / Assets
    Remaining 45% of Hotel Diagonal Mar
  • Seller
    Iberdrola Inmobiliaria
  • Buyer
    Axa Real Estate
  • € MM
    70

Axa Buys Remaining 45% Of Hotel Diagonal Mar For €70M

17 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Axa Real Estate is not one to rest on its laurels and so has acquired 100% of Hotel Diagonal Mar in Barcelona. The real estate arm of the French insurance company has committed to paying Iberdrola Inmobiliaria €70 million for the remaining 45% of the establishment to become the sole owner of the property, after it paid €80 million in June of this year for the other 55%.

With just over a month to go before the end of the year, this agreement represents the most important in the hotel sector in Barcelona, and one of the most significant in Spain. According to El Economista, this second payment will have been pre-determined by the two parties in the summer, when Axa’s first investment in the asset materialised.

Hotel Diagonal Mar is a property intended for holiday and convention (business) tourism, in the area of the same name, alongside the shopping centre of the same name, which Deutsche Bank purchased last year for €495 million. The four-star establishment is just 400m from the beach, has 413 rooms and 20 suites, as well as a large banquet room with capacity for one thousand guests and fifteen meeting rooms. The hotel was constructed by Iberdrola, after that firm reached an agreement with the chain Hilton, which has operated the establishment since then.

With this purchase, Axa is strengthening its interest in the hotel real estate business in Spain. In Madrid, it acquired Cine Rex on Gran Vía through the same real estate arm with which it has purchased the hotel in Barcelona. In that operation, the insurance company disbursed around €40 million to the firm Equity Inmuebles SL, controlled by the Mazin, Calero and Briones families.

Meanwhile, Iberdrola has completely disposed of one of its real estate jewels, but still operates a real estate portfolio with a gross leasable area of more than 200,000 m2 and an asset value of more than €600 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake