Blackstone completes €235m Greek hotel deal

Blackstone Real Estate has completed a deal to buy the Grand Hyatt Athens from Henderson Park and Hines for €235 million.

Located on Syngrou Avenue near Athens’ Koukaki district, Henderson Park and Hines acquired the property as the 315-key Ledra Marriott in June 2017 with a plan to upgrade and reposition the asset.

Over the last seven years the pair of investors have renovated and extended the property, increasing the number of keys to 548 through the purchase of a neighbouring building.

Why it matters

The acquisition of the landmark hotel by Blackstone represents its tenth hotel location in Greece, a leisure market with huge potential.

Blackstone continues to invest significant capital in leisure through its portfolio company, Hotel Investment Partners (HIP). Since acquisition, it has invested over €750 million in strategic asset management initiatives to reposition its portfolio.

Founded in 2015, the company is owned by funds managed by Blackstone and GIC, and has a portfolio of 73 leisure assets totalling more than 22,000 keys across Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal.

Meanwhile, hotels represent about a third of Henderson Park’s $14bn global portfolio with a total of over 10,500 rooms across the UK, Greece, France, Ireland, Spain and the US. Henderson Park also owns the hospitality operating and asset management platform, Klarent Hospitality.

What they said

Christopher Kuhbier, head of investments, Europe, at Henderson Park, said: "The sale of Grand Hyatt Athens marks the successful conclusion to our first investment in the Greek market. The extensive renovation and repositioning we have delivered with Hines has firmly established the property as the leading luxury and conference hotel in Athens, leveraging the rich heritage of the hotel itself and the surrounding area. We remain firm believers in the strength of the Greek tourism market, which continues to thrive.

“The transaction underlines our continued conviction in the hospitality sector and demonstrates our ability to create value for our investors. We are pleased to now pass on the stewardship of this fantastic property to Blackstone and to be working with them again.”

Paul Gomopoulos, head of Hines Greece, said: “We are proud to have contributed to the evolution of the Greek hospitality market with a new landmark destination for visitors and residents of Athens to enjoy for many years to come. The creation of the Grand Hyatt Athens represents the best of Hines as an investor and developer and we remain excited about the future of Greek hospitality.”

James Seppala, head of real estate Europe at Blackstone, said: “Athens is one of Europe’s fastest growing hotel markets and we are delighted to add this unique and newly renovated landmark hotel to our growing hotel portfolio. The hotel further complements our ownership of the largest resort hotel portfolio group in Southern Europe, which continues to benefit from a rebound in business travel and tourism, giving us confidence to deploy capital with conviction.”