Meliá Sells 3 Hotels to Socimi Atom for €73.4M

13 July 2018 – Expansión

Meliá Hotels has announced an agreement with the Socimi Atom Hoteles, in which Bankinter holds a stake, for the sale of three hotels in Sevilla, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Fuerteventura for €73.4 million.

The transaction, which will generate a net accounting profit of €6.6 million, includes the hotels Meliá Sevilla, Sol La Palma (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and Sol Jandía Mar (Fuerteventura), respectively.

The establishments will continue to be operated by Meliá by means of variable rental contracts (25% of the total revenues) for periods of 5 years, with a maximum of 4 extensions at the discretion of Meliá and up to a maximum of 25 years.

The operation values each room at €66,000 and represents an EBITDA (result before depreciation and amortisation) multiple of 13.9 times.

As part of the agreement, Atom undertakes to invest €20.2 million in the three hotels, whereby allowing their “repositioning”. Thus, the price per room after the investment will amount to €83,000.

The hotel chain has said that this sale forms part of its “strategy to adapt the attributes of the brands of all of the establishments operated by the company”.

Original story: Expansión (by D. B.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Saint Croix Sells Hotel Tryp Atocha For €27.8M

15 July 2015 – Cinco Días

The company Ibérica de Bienes de Raíces, which is 100% owned by the Socimi Saint Croix Holding Immobilier, has completed the sale of the building that houses the Hotel Tryp Atocha for €27,750,000, according to the company’s own statement to Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

The property is intended for use as a hotel and is currently leased to the hotel chain Melia Hotels International. The building is located in Madrid on Calle Atocha, number 83 and Calle Moratín, number 10 and 12.

The 4-star hotel has 150 rooms, with capacity for 250 people – and is equipped with advanced technology. The property also has six meeting rooms.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barceló’s Goals For 2015: Buy 100% Of Occidental & Double Profits

8 June 2015 – Expansión

Interview with Simón Pedro Barceló, Co-President of the Barceló Group / Having acquired a 42.5% stake in Occidental Hoteles from minority shareholders, Barceló now wants to take control of the chain. It will invest €180 million refurbishing its hotels.

Barceló is stepping on the accelerator. Having used the crisis to refurbish its hotels and make a return to the travel business, the hotel group is now looking to expand. With this objective in mind, Barceló joined forces with the Socimi Hispania at the beginning of the year, to create the first dedicated hotel listed investment vehicle.

(…)

Through the creation of the Socimi, Barceló will complete several milestones in one deal. On the one hand, it has opened the door to growth, since the investment vehicle aims to double its size. On the other hand, the Mallorcan group will reduce its real estate exposure, which had reached the highest value in its history. Barceló will transfer 16 hotels and two shopping centres worth €421 million to the Socimi, and will retain a 19.5% stake in the company. “The operation reduces debt and frees up resources”, said Simón Pedro Barceló.

Barceló has already started to use some of those “freed-up” funds. In May, it acquired 42.5% of Occidental Hoteles from Amancio Ortega, owner of Inditex, and other minority shareholders. The next step is to sign an agreement with BBVA, which owns the remaining shares. According to Barceló, “Occidental’s shareholders launched the process and that means they want to sell. Barceló is willing to acquire 100% and that is feasible in the short term”.

The acquisition of Occidental will increase Barceló’s portfolio to include 14 additional hotels and 4,584 rooms in the Caribbean: “It strengthens our business in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, and it opens us to new markets, such as Aruba”. Nevertheless, the operation will entail an investment of USD 200 million (around €180 million) to modernise Occidental’s hotels.

In addition to the deal with Occidental, Barceló’s other objective is to improve its results. In 2014, its gross operating profit (EBITDA) amounted to €216.7 million and its net profit was €46.4 million, up 85.6%.

This year, “we hope that EBITDA will reach €250 million and net profit will double to €100 million; that would make us the leader in the market in terms of profitability, ahead of Melia and NH”. (..)

Regarding the good times that the Spanish tourism sector is currently experiencing (the number of international visitors make break historic records this year), Barceló says that “Spain is a volume destination and that cannot be ignored; from there, we seek to make the market as profitable as possible”. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Yovanna Blanco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

‘Melia Hotels’ Doubles Net Profit In Q1 2015 To €16M

13 May 2015 – Expansión

Melia Hotels International’s results are improving, driven (primarily) by the strength (of the recovery in the) Spanish tourism sector. The chain controlled by the Escarrer family increased revenues by 13.64%, to €358.9 million during the first quarter (of 2015). Its gross operating profit (EBITDA) improved by 13.52%, to €60.2 million, whilst net profit doubled, from €8.15 million to €16.17 million.

Melia attributed this progress to the good performance of the hotel business, in which RevPar (revenues per available room) increased by 12%. And the increase was not driven by the holiday segment alone, the RevPar of the urban business segment also rose, by 14.8%.

For the full year, the company expects the increase in RevPar to be in the high single digits. Melia experienced a 5% increase in demand in Spain during Semana Santa (Easter), which it expects will be maintained this summer. In the Mediterranean, reservations for the summer season are almost 15% higher than in 2014. During the year to March, the group had signed 14 new contracts. Melia’s share price increased by 0.04% on the stock exchange yesterday to €11.24 per share.

Original story: Expansión (by Y. Blanco)

Translation: Carmel Drake