Commerz Real has sold Marriott Charles de Gaulle Airport Hotel to asset manager AEW.
The real assets subsidiary of Commerzbank first purchased the 300-room hotel in 2002 right after it was completed, in the framework of a sale-and-lease back agreement for its open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest.
In 2007, the hotel was rebranded and upgraded as a 4-star Marriott Hotel. It was last valued at €40.1 million.
In addition to the rooms, the hotel situated close to the airport now comprises a lobby with an integrated bar, a restaurant, and nearly 2,500 square metres of conference space with a ballroom measuring around 550 square metres. It also has a fitness area 133 underground car parking spaces, 131 outdoor car parking spaces and 3 parking spaces for coaches.
Commerz Real has a financial interest in 190 assets that have an estimated property value of $19.8 billion, according to MSCI Real Capital Analytics, and has been fairly active in the market, acquiring 12 properties and selling18 properties in the last two years.
Why it matters
Speaking with Hospitality Investor, Sven Nötling, head of hospitality at Commerz Real noted that while the company’s appetite for acquisitions is high, the difficulty when it comes to securing financing hasn’t made for the best dealmaking environment.
“Financing conditions are not optimum, and there simply hasn’t been a lot of supply in the market. Like others we don’t want to fire sale our assets – we don’t need to get anything off the shelf. However, we are in negotiations on a couple of properties which I hope to close in due course,” he said.
Perhaps the sale of the Marriott Charles de Gaulle Airport Hotel is a strategic move to ease financing pressure for future acquisitions.