Millenium Acquires Asturias Hotel in Madrid from Platinum for €82 Million

1 November 2019 The socimi Millenium has acquired the former Asturias hotel in central Madrid from the Platinum Estates group, which is controlled by the Hong Kong-based investor Harry Mohinani, for €82 million.

Millenium plans to refurbish the hotel and reopen it in 2021 in conjunction with Marriott’s W Hotels brand., The hotel is on the central Madrid square of Canalejas.

The 5-star, 136-room hotel will have furniture inspired by angels’ wings, round beds and bathrooms with transparent walls. The larger rooms will have work areas, dressing rooms and terraces with private jacuzzis.

Original Story: Expansión – Rocío Ruiz

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Millenium Hotels in Talks to Acquire the Former Asturias Hotel in Madrid

24 October 2019 – The Millenium Hotels socimi is in the midst of negotiations to acquire the former Asturias hotel on Madrid’s Plaza de Canalejas from the Hong Kong-based fund Platinum. The property, which includes two adjacent buildings with a total area of about 13,000 square meters, is reportedly worth 80 million.

It is believed that Marriott, which intends to open its first Marriott W hotel in Spain’s capital on the site, will invest another €25 million to renovate and tailor the asset to conform to the brand’s exigencies.

The future 5-star hotel will have 136 rooms on seven floors.

Original Story: Expansión – Rebeca Arroyo

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Platinum Puts Hotel Asturias in Madrid Up for Sale

1 March 2019 – Eje Prime

The Hong Kong-based investment group Platinum is looking for a buyer for the Hotel Asturias in Madrid, which it purchased in 2014 and which is going to be home to the W chain’s first hotel in the Spanish capital.

Platinum acquired the hotel from the Salazar family five years ago for €35 million. That operation included the two buildings now for sale located at numbers 9 and 11 Carrera de San Jerónimo, close to Plaza del Sol.

In addition, Platinum is looking to divest another property from its portfolio: the building that it owns on Calle de Jacometrezo. That property contains 139 rooms, is going to be operated by Marriott’s Aloft chain and is due to open in April.

Platinum is managed by the Indian textile merchant Harry Mohinani and his wife Roshni Mohinani; it entered the Spanish market in conjunction with Juan Luis Segalerva.

Original story: Eje Prime (by I. P. Gestal)

Summary translation by: Carmel Drake

Starwood Will Open ‘W Madrid’ In 2018

20 January 2016 – Cinco Días

Starwood’s W brand will soon arrive in Madrid. Yesterday, the hotel chain announced that it will open the doors of a new hotel in the capital in 2018, in a property that is across the road from the Four Seasons hotel, which will itself open in the Canalejas complex currently being developed by Villar Mir. The arrival of the W brand represents another boost for the city’s luxury hotel market…and for Spain, which will thus become the only country in Europe to have two hotels operating under the brand.

“The opening of a second W hotel in Spain demonstrates the significant demand for this innovative lifestyle brand in such an important tourist market”, said Michael Wale, President of Starwood Hotels & Resorts for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, in a statement.

The future hotel will be located in the former Hotel Asturias, at numbers 9 and 11 on Carrera de San Jerónimo, which used to be operated by the company Hispano Hotelera, until September 2014. The two buildings that comprised the hotel, which used to be owned by the Salazar family, the former owners of SOS, were then sold to Platinum Estates, the investor vehicle of the Indian textile businessman Harry Mohinani, for more than €30 million. However, the properties currently belong to Merryland Inversiones, a company created in June 2014, which last year completed a €3.45 million capital increase and which is controlled, in turn, by Multiway Investment Limited Hong Kong.

“We think that the W brand fits perfectly with this historic property and we look forward to the emergence of W Madrid as one of the most sought-after and admired hotels in Spain”, said Harry Mohinani, the CEO of Merryland Inversiones.

Initially, the idea was to convert these buildings into luxury apartments, but in the end, the owners opted for a luxury hotel. The Starwood chain has been chosen to take over the new facility and it will represent the W brand’s first foray into the capital, since to date in Spain, its only presence is in Barcelona.

The new hotel will have 141 rooms, of which 21 will be suites. The future W Madrid, which will join the portfolio of 46 hotels that are already in operation around the world, will also have a rooftop terrace and two meeting rooms. The refurbishment of the property will be coordinated by the company Hospitality Solutions, which is headquartered in Hong Kong; the architectural firm Rockwell Group will also be involved – it has offices in Madrid and participated in the renovation of some parts of the Westin Palace, the only hotel that Starwood currently operates in the city. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Laura Salces Acebes)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gilinski Acquires Hotel Villa Magna For €190M

30 June 2015 – Expansión

The Colombian investor has acquired the exclusive Madrilenian hotel for €190 million and is now negotiating the contract for the management of the property with the international hotel chains Marriott and Starwood.

The Colombian businessman Jaime Gilinski (pictured above) has agreed the acquisition of the Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid for €190 million. The proeprty is currently owned by Sodim, a holding company controlled by the Portuguese Queiroz Pereira family. The deal is expected to be signed within the next few days (…).

The transaction represents the largest hotel purchase in recent times in Madrid. Last month, the Ritz Hotel was sold to the Saudí group Olayan, in a joint venture with the Mandarin Group for €130 million; and in May 2014, Katara Hospitality purchased the Intercontinental Hotel for €70 million. The consideration also comes close to the €200 million paid by Qatari Diar in 2013 for the W Hotel in Barcelona.

The Queiroz Pereira group purchased Hotel Villa Magna in 2001 from the Japanese company Shirayama for €80 million, and spent a further €50 million on the refurbishment of the property.

The deal, coordinated by the real estate consultancy JLL, has been closed in record time since the process for marketing the property officially began less than a month ago and reflects the interest that exists for real estate assets in Spain. Gilinski’s offer exceeds the property’s asking price (€180 million) by €10 million.

Once the deal has been signed, Gilinski will focus on reaching an agreement for the management of the property. After ruling out other options, he is currently negotiating with two candidates, namely, Marriott and Starwood.

The hotel is currently operated by the Queiroz family following the departure of the US hotel chain Hyatt in 2009, which managed the property for almost two decades.

The Hotel Villa Magna has 150 luxury rooms, including suites (measuring between 30m2 to 290m2), following the refurbishment work undertaken by the former owners, between 2007 and 2009.

Commitment to Spain

The new owner of Villa Magna arrived in Spain in 2013 after acquiring 5% of Banco Sabadell. Since then, he has not only increased his stake in the bank to become the largest shareholder in the Spanish entity, he has also evaluated opportunities in other sectors, such as real estate.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meridia Finalises The Purchase Of Nine Buildings From GE

23 February 2015 – Expansión

For €100 million / Javier Faus’ fund will take ownership of the offices located in Barcelona, Sabadell and Madrid.

The fund manager Meridia Capital, led by Javier Faus, the Vice President of Barcelona Football Club, and Juan Barba, the former Director of Transactions at Sareb, is finalising a new acquisition in the Spanish market: a property portfolio currently owned by General Electric Real Estate.

The private equity fund manager has been negotiating the purchase (with GE) for more than two months. The target: a batch of nine office buildings that have a total surface area of 75,000 square metres. The properties are mainly located in Madrid and Barcelona, although there is also one building in Sabadell.

Most of the buildings are located on the outskirts of their respective cities and have an occupancy rate of almost 70%, which means that the fund manager could generate value by increasing the number of tenants and therefore, its rental income.

According to sources close to the process, Meridia will pay General Electric’s real estate division €100 million for the batch.

GE’s real estate arm will present the transaction to its shareholders for approval at the shareholders’ meeting to be held on 4 March in Madrid. GE’s advisor, Cushman & Wakefield, has declined to comment.

A new fund

The fund manager will undertake the transaction through its new fund, Meridian Iberian Real Estate Fund (Miref), the second investment vehicle launched by the company, which it hired Juan Barba to lead.

The previous fund, launched by Faus, was exclusively dedicated to investments in hotels. It purchased eight high-end properties, all over the world; almost all of them have now been sold, with the exception of a hotel in Paris, managed by Starwood’s W brand.

Miref has a budget of €150 million, which could equate to an investment volume of €400 million after accounting for bank financing. The fund seeks to invest in all segments in the real estate market, from offices, to commercial assets, to logistics facilities to hotels.

Miref’s first transactions have included the purchase of Henkel’s former headquarters in Barcelona for €14.4 million, which it plans to convert into a hotel, and the acquisition of a batch of ten Consum supermarkets. Last year, it purchased the Albufera Park shopping centre in Madrid for €21 million, also from GE Real Estate.

Meridia’s acquisition of these nine office buildings is just another example of the interest being shown in offices, which together with commercial assets, are the properties in highest demand. In 2014, investment in these types of properties amounted to €2,500 million (triple the amount invested in 2013), with 67% of the assets located in Madrid and 33% in Barcelona, according to Aguirre Newman.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz and M. Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake