UOL Group buys Hilton Melbourne
Singapore’s UOL Group has announced the acquisition of Hilton Melbourne South Wharf hotel for $230 million.
UOL, the Singapore-listed real estate conglomerate, is the company behind the Pan Pacific and Parkroyal hotel chains.
The sale of the 396 room property at 2 Convention Centre Place, next to the Yarra river marks the continuing expansion of Singaporean investors into Melbourne. The city offers them Australian opportunities for hotel development.
The Hilton deal comes after property developer and investor Sing Holdings purchased the Travelodge Docklands from Singaporean billionaire Michael Kum for $107 million back in October.
And that came one month after Singapore-listed Frasers Hospitality Trust announced an agreement to purchase the Novotel Melbourne for $237 million.
UOL bought the Hilton from a joint venture between New York Stock Exchange-listed real estate investment trust Host Hotels and Resorts, Inc and Australian developer Plenary. The two companies had put it together as part of a 2011 debt and equity deal which valued the property at $150 million. The Hilton was put on the market again in late 2015.
The plan is to rebrand the 30,688 square metre property into part of the Pan Pacific Hotels chain.
UOL is no stranger to Australia,
The Pan Pacific Perth, which opened in 2011, was the first Pan Pacific in Australia,
The company also owns Parkroyal properties in Sydney and Melbourne.
UOL in its statement said the acquisition was part of its plan expand its hotel property and management portfolios in the Oceania region.
“The Property will allow the Group to have a bigger presence in the city of Melbourne in addition to its Parkroyal Melbourne Airport,” the statement said.
It said “the Acquisition may also allow the Group the opportunity to enhance the collective operating efficiency of the Group’s current hotels in Australia, through economies of scale and greater brand awareness of Pan Pacific and Parkroyal.”
by Leon Gettler, March 6th 2017
