Chinese company snaps up Sydney’s Park Regis hotel
After weeks of speculation, Sydney-based private hotel company Staywell Hospitality Group has offloaded its Park Regis Hotel in the Sydney CBD to a Chinese private capital group.
The hotel was sold for $46 million.
The Chinese firm acquired the Park Regis through its operating company, Melbourne-based financial planning company Cornerstone Capital.
It is now in the process of doing a due diligence on acquiring residential development-approved 333 Kent Street building for $90 million.
The Park Regis is the company’s second acquisition.
The hotel has been on and off the market for several years.
The sale comes after Malaysia’s Mulpha Group had pulled back from due diligence to acquire the hotel.
The sale is all part of Staywell’s plans to develop new hotels in Perth, Adelaide and Darwin.
Ultimately, Staywell is looking at building a 100-strong hotel chain and a near $500 million balance sheet within three years.
On its website, the company bills itself as “one of the largest independently owned hotel management groups in the Asia Pacific region”.
Staywell now runs 35 hotels under its Park Regis and Leisure Inn brands, in Australia, India, Singapore, Bali and Dubai. It has also expanded to New Zealand and the UK. Also, it is looking at expanding into China.
Chief executive Simon Wan founded Staywell nine years ago alongside Richard Doyle, a former partner at Baker & Mackenzie.
Acquisitions like the Park Regis in Sydney’s CBD are hard to come by.
Which explains why so many of them have been snapped up at top prices.
Examples in recent times include the $445 million sale of the landmark Westin Hotel to Singapore's Far East Organization and Hong Kong's Sino Group and the Sydney Hilton Hotel sold for $442 million last year to Singapore-based Bright Ruby.
According to the Australian Financial Review, the new owner of the Park Regis' has been in business in Australia for about eight years.
by Leon Gettler, August 29th 2016
