More Aussie hotels to go under the hammer to wealthy Malaysian family

IBIS Budget Hotel Perth (Photo : Accor Hotels)

Some $250 million will be spent this year on purchasing Australian hotels under an order from a wealthy Malaysian family to its Sydney funds manager, Aligned FM, according to a report in The Australian.

According to the newspaper, the fund, acting on behalf of the family, purchased the Ibis Budget Hotel in Perth for around $16 million and looks to further expand its portfolio with other key acquisitions.

In December, the fund purchased two Chiefly hotels in Perth and Wollongong for a total of $50 million, the paper stated.

“We would like to have all the money invested by the end of the year (on behalf of the Malaysian family),” Aligned FM managing director Victoria Clent told The Australian.

“We are looking within Australia; we are not too focused on geographic locations but we are focusing on making sure there is a long-term sustainable yield,” Clent said, the paper reported.

“Our goal is to maximise risk-adjusted returns and post-tax cash flow for our clients. This requires investing in the right asset class at the right time in the market cycle.”

Regarding the most recent purchase, Clent told the paper the IBIS Budget Hotel Perth “was a consistently strong performer”.

“We were after a risk-adjusted return. When we looked at the hotel we saw there was low volatility in the investment.”

According to the report, the new Malaysian owners could potentially be interested in expanding the Perth hotel, as it has a development approval to add a further 30 rooms to the 73-room property.

Source : Travel Weekly  Daisy Melwani   21st January 2015