Christie + Co bucks trend in Germany with the sale of eight hotels in a month

3 December 2008

Despite the global economic slowdown severely restricting transactional activity in the German hotel market, Christie + Co managed to complete on the sale of eight hotels, with a combined total of 1,109 rooms, in the space of a month.

Acting on behalf of Queens Hotels Deutschland, Christie + Co has sold a group of four hotels in Germany to Mark Hotels, the Israeli hotel group, for an undisclosed sum.

The group of hotels comprises the 142-room Best Western Hotel Kassel in Kassel, the 82-room Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Dusseldorf, and the 85-room Eurogarden Hotel and 116-room Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Cologne.

At the same time, Mark Hotels also acquired the 198-room Treff Hansa Hotel near Dusseldorf through Christie + Co, who sold the property on behalf of GA Holding.

Christie + Co also advised on the sale of three hotels operating under Accor’s Mercure brand.

On the instruction of a private investor, Christie + Co sold the 116-room Mercure Hotel in Remscheid to a Danish investor.

Finally, on behalf of the fund management department of Falk Fonds 66, Christie + Co sold the 150-room Mercure Hotel in Berlin-Hennigsdorf, and the 220-room Mercure Hotel in Hanover, to a private Israeli hotel company for undisclosed sum.

Markus Beike, Managing Director Germany at Christie + Co, said: “The global financial crisis has had a major impact on overall transaction volumes in Germany in 2008 compared to last year. However, Christie + Co’s transactional activity has increased by around 60% compared to the previous 12 months. This has been driven by an increasing number of completed transactions in the midscale segment up 80% on 2007, and a 33% rise in completed deals in the corporate segment.

“Highly-geared investors who had previously driven the market over the last two years have been forced out by the lack of funding available from the banks and have been partly replaced by traditional institutional investors and hotel group from the Middle East.

“We believe that Germany’s hotel market will witness an increase in transactional activity in the next 12 months compared to this year, as owners seek to gain value from breaking up portfolios, which have previously been brought to market, with traditional long-term, cash-rich investors again in the pole position to take advantage.”

—Ends—

For further information on this press release, please contact: Mark Wingett at Christie + Co. Tel: 020 7227 0794. mark.wingett@christie.com