News & Stories

Munich. The consultancy PKF in Germany has picked up on a complicated topic in a practical manner in its new "series": the "valuation of hotels and hotel properties", which is, at the same time, the title of the newly published book*. Matthias Schroeder, Managing Director of PKF Munich, talks about content and form, even for uninvolved readers. Jakob Forstnig and Michael Widmann, also hotel consultants, are the co-authors.

London. The popularity of stock markets has decreased, even in the English-speaking countries. The privatisation rate of companies listed on the stock market has increased. Such public to private transactions hold chances for investors thinking in the long and medium term: They usually improve the property values. Hotel groups in the German-speaking countries seldom provide enough potential for such deals.

Hamburg. According to several media reports the German Federal Agency for Financial Services has authorised the investment group Lone Star to function as a bank. The US company belongs to a group of "locust" firms that also take keen interest in hotel real estate.

Attractive for shareholders:Almdorf Seinerzeit in Austria

Wiesbaden. The increasingly restrictive capital-lending policy regarding medium-sized enterprises has lead hotel companies to look for more creative approaches to capital funding. Self-initiated funds or selling shares to guests are no longer unusual.

The German hotel industry is still strongly dominated by medium-sized companies. According to the "Industry Report 2005" of the German International Hotel Association, nine out of ten hotels are running either as sole proprietorships or partnerships. And the economic development of the country, combined with stricter lending regulations, has made it hard, especially for these companies, to get money from the banks. But what to do, if one's own funds are running out, while investments have become unavoidable for the company's continued existence?

Frankfurt/M. Even if the German REIT was not to get going properly, investors would still be able to invest in the German real estate market via the British REIT.

Apart from the three known investment vehicles, namely direct investment and closed and open real estate funds, the G-REIT could soon become the fourth real estate product in Germany.

In the sector "open real estate investment trusts" there is a statutory call for action due to many reasons.

Two hotel experts discuss the advantages and disadvantages of G-REIT.

Wiesbaden . Currently, there is no topic that dominates European real estate events more than the planned introduction of REITs in Great Britain and Germany. While the British Chancellor of the Exchequer has presented an issue paper, according to which, the UK REIT is gearing to comparable systems worldwide, in Germany, bankers and politicians are still tinkering around with G-REIT.

Vienna. Since last autumn Oesterreichische Hotel- und Tourismusbank has been offering mezzanine capital for small and medium-sized enterprises. The official goal is to offer new credit opportunities to small-scale companies. Hitherto, only two businesses have achieved this.