News & Stories

London. InterContinental Hotels Group plc has agreed to sell a portfolio of seven InterContinental branded hotels located in Continental Europe to the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds. IHG previously announced in January 2006 that these hotels had been put on the market.

Berlin. Open property funds are ever more on the look out for lucrative investments promising high gains and at the same time securing portfolio diversity in terms of location and usage. Even the Commerz Grundbesitz Investment Company, the real estate subsidiary of the Commerzbank plc, is no exception. Although their activity in the hotel industry is limited, CGI is open for new projects with well known operators.

Augsburg. A subsidiary of an Israeli real estate company has just a few days ago put its signature to a contract for the purchase of up to ten hotels in a range of German cities including Munich, Bonn, Frankfurt and Essen.

London. Hospitality Europe B.V., the pan-European hotel owning and asset management company, completed its sale to BRE/Hospitality Europe Holding B.V., an entity owned by funds managed by The Blackstone Group. The sale includes wellknown properties, such as the Sheraton Airport Hotels in Frankfurt and Amsterdam and the Pulitzer in Amsterdam.

Berlin. Hotels as lucrative and "nice" investments are appreciated by open investment funds. As additions to the portfolio they are appreciated by initiators and investors, as they guarantee the desired mixture of office buildings, city quarters, shopping malls and commercial areas. "This well-balanced portfolio is especially interesting for long-term oriented investors," says Ingo Hartlief, Board member of Deutsche Immobilienfonds AG. Difa is one of those investment fund companies that are open-minded about the hotel industry.

New York. The U.S. hotel market is sizzling. Hard statistical evidence gleaned from interviews of U.S. hotel investors and lenders suggest that domestic hotel markets are at all-time height. But there is increasing evidence that the industry may be closer to the peak of this cycle than the beginning.

Cologne. With a letter from 24 May 2006, funds initiator Anno August Jagdfeld informed investor participants of "Fundus Fund 31 - Hotel Adlon", that on 31 August 2006, loans taken in 1996 would be renegotiated with the bank consortia. The reason behind the refinancing move, as set out in the letter, was a desire to take advantage better interest rates. This motivation must be questioned.

Cologne. On Wednesday of this week, Event Management and The Blackstone Group acquired nine hotel properties from the DS funds of the Dortmund based Dr. Peters Group. The deal represents the biggest single sale of hotel real estate in Germany in recent history. Seven of the properties are presently run by Accor under three different brands, two are run by the Treugast Solutions Group.Group. 

Norderney. The construction works for the planned 5-star Steigenberger hotel on Norderney Island in the North Sea have been delayed. Financial difficulties leave the fund project of Claus Cohrs, a former member of the Fundus group, pretty shaky. Anton Schattmeier, Steigenberger board member, said in the course of the press conference on financial statements on Tuesday that his company's contractual engagement required secure financing.