News & Stories

Dubai. "I can’t tell you how bad it was," Joe Sita, president of IFA Hotel Investments, the asset management unit of Kuwait-based property developer of mixed-use tourism projects IFA Hotels & Resorts, told participants at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference that was recently held in Dubai. He wasn’t taking about the impact of the unrest on the region’s hotel business, but recounting his ordeal last year in trying to secure financing for a Fairmont hotel being built in Dubai’s man-made Palm Jumeirah Island. Banks are still reluctant to lend, liquidity remains tight and real estate investment index says that Arabian markets are still semi-transparent and opaque.

Wiesbaden. The majority of real estate companies expects that the demand for instruments of alternative financing will rise. According to a recent survey, this mainly referred to large-scale projects recording investment volumes of 50 million euros and more.

Berlin. Where is Europe headed? Will hotels be financed again and if so, how? At the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin, ways of financing, types of agreements and expansion strategies were in the focus as usual. The willingness to lend still differs strongly from the willingness before the crisis. For the operators this means: they have to spend money in order to get agreements.

Munich. In 2010, providers of closed-end funds relied less often on hotels in German investments than in the year before. However, concerning foreign funds objects, the niche segment has come back into the focus of investors again more frequently.

Berlin. At the start of the MIPIM, the sun was shining on the Côte d’Azur in Cannes, though as the event progressed, an icy wind took hold. The weather was fitting for the spring meeting of the international real estate industry: The prevailing mood within the sector was better than in previous years, though still subdued. There is still insufficient confidence on part of the banks. Yet Germany is considered target market no.1 for real estate investors. Even the demand for hotel real estate in Germany is increasing.

Berlin. Those investing in the Fundus Fund 34 – Grand Hotel Heiligendamm had to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea last week. They approved the hard capital reduction. Now, additional capital is required in order to implement measures to lengthen the season and pay back loans. If the funds aren't forthcoming, it could quickly again start to look tight for Heiligendamm.

Frankfurt. Invesco Real Estate, one of the largest real estate management companies dealing with direct real estate investments and shares from the US brings a wind of change to the hotel sector. The second special hotel fund has just been closed.

Frankfurt. Closed funds move large volumes of capital and it is impossible to imagine the world of financing without them – this applies to the hotel sector, too. However, the crisis hit them hard as well. Figures have almost halved since the fall of Lehmann. But an upward trend is expected. At the 2nd “VGF Summit” in Frankfurt two weeks ago, the sector celebrated itself a bit, but it was nonetheless well aware of what the reality looked like. There is still a lot to be done. This was the tenor – not absolutely outright, but between the lines.

Heiligendamm. The Grand Hotel Heiligendamm on Germany's Baltic Sea coast – a controversial fund property, a legendary conference hotel and host to the G8 summit in 2007 as well as a former Kempinski Hotel – seems to have more problems than the public have known about up to now. Recent figures are allegedly more satisfying, though the past seems to have left much deeper wounds than previously imagined. Now, only a brutal capital reduction can save the hotel. A financial restructuring plan foresees shareholders having nine-tenths of the value of their holdings shaved off. Also, fresh investment is to be ploughed into the hotel. Whether this will happen, remains an open question: The Annual General Meeting will vote on the future of Heiligendamm on March 11. The number of options available will be small though.

Vienna. Kneissl is ill-fated. In its 92-year company history, the Kneissl business from Tyrol had to file for bankruptcy for the third time. Following the business' founder and local redevelopers, Mohamed Ben Issa Al Jaber overextended himself with the Tyrol ski manufacturer.