Giants circling Ascendas portfolio
The battle for some of Australia’s top hotel properties is heating up with a swag of new groups entering the race for a portfolio being offloaded by Singaporean fund manager Ascendas as bids are also prepared for the M&L Hospitality portfolio.
Property executives confirmed reports that US-based Starwood Capital Group and Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang’s Fosun International were weighing bids for Ascendas Hospitality Trust.
However, Blackstone Group, which sparked the Ascendas portfolio process with a hefty bid, is still believed to be the top contender for the hotels.
The Australian last month revealed that the Ascendas Hospitality Trust, with seven properties in Australia, including the Pullman Sydney Hyde Park and Pullman and Mercure Melbourne Albert Park, was being marketed by investment bank JPMorgan.
The Ascendas fund controls more than 4200 rooms across the nation, and in China, Japan and Singapore, that are worth about $1.4 billion. Hong Kong’s Gaw Capital Partners had also shown interest, property executives said.
There is some caution about the latest pair to be named in the race as they hold extensive hotel assets elsewhere in the world and would be expected to look at all such opportunities.
There is also interest in individual hotels and partnerships between bidders may emerge given the scale of the cross-border offering.
M&L Hospitality, controlled by the Singapore-based Kum family, last month placed a 2089-room hotel portfolio, which includes Sydney’s Sheraton Four Points and Melbourne’s Hilton DoubleTree, on the market for as much as $2bn. The portfolio generates annual earnings of more than $100 million and accounts for more than 18 per cent of Sydney’s CBD hotel market.
M&L Hospitality has investment banks UBS and Rothschild as financial advisers. The process has been shrouded in secrecy but has attracted global attention due the scale of the offer and the strong performance of the Australasian industry.
Source: The Australian, Ben Wilmot, 20th January 2016
