Union Investment acquisisce un 4-star superior Meliá Hotel a Düsseldorf

Union Investment has acquired another hotel from Spanish operator Meliá Hotels International in the shape of the Meliá in Düsseldorf. A remaining lease term of 16 years makes the 201-room hotel an attractive investment for open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Deutschland. Clifford Chance provided Union Investment with legal advice on the transaction. CBRE advised the seller, a fund managed by Pramerica Real Estate.
The 4-star superior hotel benefits from a very central, yet quiet location in the immediate vicinity of the old town, the main Königsallee shopping area and the Rhine. With some 14,000 sq m of gross floor space, the hotel is aimed equally at business travellers and leisure customers. “Since its opening in October 2009, the hotel’s location right next to Hofgarten, Düsseldorf’s main park, has ensured excellent occupancy levels,” said Dr. Frank Billand, a member of the Union Investment Real Estate GmbH management team.
Union Investment laid the foundation of its partnership with successful hotel chain Meliá back in 2012 when it financed the Meliá flagship hotel in Paris La Défense. “The worldwide recognition of the Meliá brand, their many years of experience and strong growth are very important for us and provide a promising basis for our continued partnership,” said Billand. Established in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca, Meliá Hotels International is the largest hotel operator in Spain and currently has more than 350 hotels in 35 countries across four continents. The individual hotel brands include Gran Meliá, Meliá, ME, Innside, Tryp by Wyndham, Sol and Paradisus. In 2011, after a six-month audit Meliá Düsseldorf received certification as a biosphere hotel and was granted the corresponding Biosphere Responsible Tourism label. This international certificate is awarded by the Madrid-based Instituto de Turismo Responsable (ITR). Affiliated with UNESCO, this independent institute was founded in 1995 with the aim of developing and implementing sustainable development programmes and activities for the tourism industry. “In order to maintain long-term value, sustainable real estate investment is an integral part of our business strategy. Step by step, we want to move closer to our objective of achieving a sustainably optimised portfolio, including our hotel holdings,” explained Billand.
Union Investment’s broadly diversified European hotel portfolio comprises 32 hotels in the budget to first-class segment with a total real estate asset value of EUR 1.8 billion, placing Union Investment among the German property fund managers with the highest level of investment in the hotel sector.
Source : Company