Swiss Life and B&B acquire 22 hotels in France from Grape Hospitality

Swiss Life AM France, the French investment arm of the Swiss insurer Swiss Life, together with French hotel chain B&B Hotels, has acquired 22 budget hotels (1,797 rooms) across nine regions in France, from French owner-operator Grape Hospitality which is seeking to move away from the budget segment and concentrate on more up-market hotels. Swiss Life AM France has acquired the hotel premises, while B&B Hotels takes ownership of the business assets and will operate the hotels under long-term lease agreements. The entire portfolio was renovated between 2017 and 2020. This acquisition is part of Swiss Life AM’s new SRI-certified budget hotel fund, which brings together ten French institutional investors alongside Swiss Life to target budget hotels across France. Founded in 2016, Grape Hospitality is 70% owned by French private equity firm Eurazeo, while B&B Hotels was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2019.

Alchemy Step Hotel Group acquires FLI Group

Frankfurt-based hotel investment company Alchemy Step Hotel Group (ASHG), a joint venture between British private equity firm Alchemy Special Opportunities LLP and German owner-operator Step Partners GmbH, has entered an agreement to acquire Ghent-based FLI Group, a Belgian hotel investment and management company. FLI’s real estate portfolio consists of eight hotels and 1,063 rooms across four of Belgium’s largest cities, including four properties in Antwerp, as well as Ghent, Liege and Hasselt. Seven of the hotels are branded, under Mercure (3), Holiday Inn (2) and Holiday Inn Express (2) flags, with one operated as an independent. The properties will be managed by Step Partners GmbH, with plans for refurbishments and repositioning for some of the locations. With this acquisition, ASHG’s portfolio now comprises 13 hotels with over 1,800 rooms across Belgium and Germany. 

Art-Invest acquires four B&B Hotels in Germany from Covivio

German investment manager Art-Invest Real Estate has entered an agreement to acquire four B&B Hotels in Germany from French real estate investor Covivio. The portfolio comprises a total of 400 rooms, located in Berlin, Cologne-Frechen, Koblenz and Oberhausen. All hotels will be leased on a long-term basis to French hotel group B&B Hotels. This acquisition follows Art-Invest’s purchase in August of the three-star, 149-room Holiday Inn Express Fürth, Nuremberg, and expands the group’s core budget hotel fund. Art-Invest specialises in key metropolitan areas across Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom. 

Nrep acquires Clarion Hotel Stockholm from Aspelin-Ramm

Danish investment group Urban Partners’ real estate investor Nrep, has acquired the four-star, 532-room Clarion Hotel Stockholm in Sweden, from Swedish property developer Aspelin-Ramm Fastigheter AB. The hotel, which includes 12 meeting rooms and a full-service spa, is situated adjacent to the Skanstull metro station, just a ten-minute walk from the centre of Södermalm, the southern district of Stockholm city centre. The acquisition was made through NSF V, Nrep’s €3.65 billion value-add fund, which is one of Europe’s largest real estate funds. The property is fully leased on a long-term basis to Strawberry, formally known as Nordic Choice, the Nordic region's second-largest hotel operator. Following this acquisition, Nrep now controls over 1,000 hotel rooms in central Stockholm. 

Extendam and Vicartem acquire the Atlas Hotel Brussels in Belgium

French investor Extendam and French management company Vicartem have jointly acquired the three-star, 88-room Atlas Hotel Brussels in Belgium. The property is located in the Dansaert district, just an eight-minute walk from Brussels’ main square, the Grand-Place. Extendam and Vicartem plan to extensively renovate the hotel and reposition it as an independent four-star boutique hotel, inspired by the Solly Hotel Paris that was developed and operated by Younight Hospitality, a subsidiary of Vicartem. Renovation work on the newly acquired hotel is scheduled to commence in early 2025, with plans for the hotel to reopen in September 2025.

SCPI Comète acquires the AZ Orus Factory Hotel in Zaragoza, Spain

SCPI Comète, an investment vehicle of French real estate management company Alderan, has acquired the three-star, 55-room AZ Orus Factory Hotel in Zaragoza, Spain, from Spanish real estate company Viviendas Turísticas Zaragoza S L, for a reported €5.4 million (€98,200 per room). The hotel is situated in a former coffee and chocolate factory, just a 10-minute walk from the city centre of Zaragoza, which is the capital of north-eastern Spain’s Aragon region. The transaction was structured as a sale and leaseback arrangement. Earlier this year, SCPI Comète acquired a padel club near Madrid and the MediArena studio in Amsterdam.

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