Novotel Melbourne sold
Singapore-listed Frasers Hospitality Trust has snapped up the landmark Novotel Melbourne hotel for $AUD237 million.
The Novotel has been operated by the AccorHotels group for years.
The deal, which is one of the largest ever hotel transactions to occur in Melbourne, came after Frasers Hospitality Trust launched a rights issue to raise gross proceeds of $S266.3 million ($A256.48 million).
Adding Novotel Melbourne will build Frasers Hospitality Trust’s portfolio size from $S2.1 billion to $S2.3 billion.
Fraser Hospitality zeroed in on the Novotel to increase its exposure to Melbourne’s growing hospitality sector, where visitor nights have increased by 19.2 per cent from 2013 to 2015.
The sale of the 380-room hotel was brokered by US giant LaSalle Investment Management.
“We are currently experiencing significant demand for trophy status hotels across Australia’s major markets. There has been a noticeable change of focus with global hotel investors who typically focus on international gateways such as New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong, now also targeting Australia’s key markets,’’ JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group Australasia chief executive officer Craig Collins told The Urban Developer.
“Over the past couple of years Australia has become even more attractive because of the excellent growth in international tourism, strong domestic market and the fundamental transparency and safety of the real estate market.”
“We were always confident that the Novotel Melbourne on Collins would be strongly targeted by investors because it enjoys an absolute prime location in the heart of Melbourne, sits above a new luxury retail centre, and has achieved strong and consistent trading performance over a long period of time.”
“We are in continuous contact with a substantial pool of investors who are seeking to either enter the Australian hotel market or further invest. With the current scarcity of opportunities it is difficult for even experienced, well-capitalised groups to secure properties considering just how highly sought Australian hotel assets are at present amongst the international investment community.”
by Leon Gettler, September 13th 2016
