With the global recession subsiding, the big players are back in the market. Here is a list of some of the top properties up for sale or already sold in the last few days.
1. Clermont Hotel
The six-story hotel at 789 Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta also known as the famous Clermont hotel is up for sale.
The complex includes 88,552 rentable square feet in the main building, along with a 1,600-square-foot home and two lots, all on a 1.34-acre site.
Franklin Street Financial Partners is taking bids for the hotel.
The Clermont Hotel was built in 1924 as an apartment building and was later converted into a hotel.
The tower extending from the scenic rooftop of the building advertising “Hotel Clermont” has been a landmark for decades, and it’s said that gangster Al Capone once lived on the top level of the building for a period of time.
But the hotel is best known as the home of the Clermont Lounge. At various times, the club has been known as the Anchorage Club, Gypsy Club, Atlanta Playboy Club and Jungle Club.
2. RBS sells London’s Cumberland hotel
Royal Bank of Scotland Group, the largest bank owned by the UK government has sold London’s Cumberland Hotel to London & Regional Properties and Starwood Capital Group LLC to reduce its investment in hotels.
RBS, which is 84%-owned by the government, also plans to sell the 494-bedroom Grosvenor House Hotel about a mile away on London’s Park Lane. That may fetch as much as 500 million pounds, the Wall Street Journal said.
The bank bought both hotels in 2001 as part of a sale-and-leaseback transaction with Le Meridien.
London & Regional, which is owned by brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone, owns three Hilton-operated hotels in central London, including one on Park Lane. The others are in Trafalgar Square and in Mayfair.
3. Kingdom Holding may sell minority stakes in hotels
Kingdom Holding, the investment company controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and its hotels unit, may sell minority stakes held in hotels as part of a plan to focus on higher-earning properties.
Kingdom Holding owns a 50% stake in The Savoy Hotel in London, 35.5% of The Plaza Hotel in New York and 50% of the Fairmont in San Francisco, according to the Kingdom Hotel Investments.
It also owns stakes in five hotel managers including Fairmont Raffles Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels and Movenpick Hotels & Resorts AG.
Kingdom Hotel properties include 23 operating hotels and resorts, and four under construction or in the initial stages of development, including in Seychelles, Marrakesh and Accra.
4. Khazanah to buy stake in Aman Resorts
The Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah may soon buy a controlling stake in luxury hotel chain Aman Resorts from India’s DLF (DLF.BO) for up to $350 million, according to reports.
But the deal may not include Aman’s Delhi property. Goldman Sachs (GS.N) is allegedly advising DLF and JPMorgan is advising Khazanah.
Aman runs 23 hotels, including in Thailand, Bhutan, Cambodia, China and the United States. DLF representatives declined comment, reports added.
5. Union Properties nears Ritz-Carlton sale
Union Properties Dubai’s third-largest property developer by market value, hopes to finalise the sale of the Ritz-Carlton in the Emirate this month as it seeks to raise cash to pay debts and finish projects.
Khalid bin Kalban, the chairman of Union Properties, said the company was “in serious talks” with two investors, one from the UAE and one from Saudi Arabia, and expected to get close to the asking price of Dh1.5 billion (US$408 million).
Union Properties will also sell other hospitality assets, including two Marriott Executive Apartment blocks, one in Deira and the other in the Green Community, “if the price is right”, Mr bin Kalban said.
Union Properties returned to profit in the first quarter after losses totalling Dh498m last year. But its stock has lost more than 44% of its value this year.
6. Carlson completes acquisition of Indian partner
Carlson announced acquisition of the majority interest in RHW Hotel Management Services (RHW). Carlson now owns 87% of RHW.
RHW is a leading hotel management and consultancy services company in India that has successfully managed Carlson-branded hotels in the country since 1998.
This acquisition follows Carlson’s recent announcement that it has signed agreements to open 75 Radisson, Country Inns & Suites by CarlsonSM, Park Inn and Park Plaza hotels in Asia Pacific by 2013.
Over 50 of these hotels under development are in India. Out of the 18 hotels that Carlson plans to open across Asia Pacific, 15 will be in India.
7. Wyndham completes TRYP acquisition from Sol Melia
Wyndham Hotel Group, a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide has completed the previously announced acquisition of the TRYP hotel brand from Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts. This includes franchise agreements with 92 TRYP hotels in Europe and South America.
The newly renamed TRYP by Wyndham brand joins Wyndham Hotel Group’s 11 other brands, which encompass nearly 7,100 hotels in 65 different countries.
TRYP, a select-service, mid-priced brand caters to business and leisure travellers in cosmopolitan cities across the world.
As previously announced, Wyndham Hotel Group and Sol Melia will work together to develop the TRYP by Wyndham brand globally and expect to market the hotels cooperatively through their central reservations systems and loyalty programs as part of a strategic alliance between the two companies.
8. Pegasus sale set for August
The privatisation of Pegasus Hotels of Jamaica is to be concluded in two months, the agency arranging the sale of the hotel shares has announced.
The pre-qualified bidders are still doing due diligence, the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) said, on the 59.81% shares in Pegasus now held by the state-owned National Hotels and Properties. Their final bids are due at the end of July.
The hotel company, which trades on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, is worth about J$16 per share, valuing the National Hotels’ 71.87 million share ownership at J$1.15 billion.
The market value of the Jamaica Pegasus property has not been disclosed.
9. Viva! Blue-chip Vegas Hotel on offer
One of Sydney’s highest gaming-revenue-producing pubs, the Vegas Hotel in Kings Cross, has been officially put up for sale as part of the failed Landmark Leisure Group’s portfolio, owned by hotelier Richard Wynne.
There were four key pubs in the portfolio. The Peakhurst ($10.6 million) and the Oxford ($11.38 million) have already been sold.
After the Vegas sale, considered the jewel in the crown of the portfolio, Landmark Leisure’s receivers will look to sell the Mansions, also in Kings Cross.
At the peak of the market in 2007, the Vegas hotel was valued at $47 million when it reached No.4 on the coveted NSW Top 200 gaming list.
10. IHG sells Atlanta hotel
InterContinental Hotels Group has sold its 422-room InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta property to Pebblebrook Hotel Trust for US $105 million.
Pebblebrook, a Bethesda, MD-based hotel REIT, funded the purchase with cash from its December initial public offering.
The 725,571-square-foot hospitality building has 21 stories at 3315 NE Peachtree Road in the Upper Buckhead submarket of Atlanta.
The luxury hotel has a AAA Five Diamond rating and caters to leisure, corporate and convention travelers to the upscale, uptown district.
The REIT plans to invest $7 million in capital improvements to guestrooms, meeting space and public areas immediately and continuing through 2013.
Last year, the property ran at nearly 68 percent occupancy with an average daily rate of about $156.
