Covivio unit to buy luxury hotels portfolio from Varde - sources

Covivio Hotels SCA

06/11/2019 17:41

MILAN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Real estate group Covivio Hotels
 COVH.PA   CVO.PA  is set to buy a portfolio of European luxury
hotels from private equity group Varde, two sources close to the
matter said on Wednesday.
    The deal, which should be sealed by the year end, was worth
about 500 million to 600 million euros, one of the sources said.
    It follows a wave of deals in the European luxury hotels
sector, including the purchase of Germany's Steigenberger hotels
by China's Huazhu Group  HTHT.O .
    Varde bought a portfolio of nine hotels from Italian group  
  Boscolo in 2017. It includes famous properties such as the
Grand Hotel dei Dogi in Venice and Palazzo Naiadi in Rome. 
    Hotel investments are set for a record high this year in
Italy, industry officials say. In the first nine months of 2019,
investments in Italian hotels tripled to 2.56 billion euros
compared with a year earlier, real estate services group CBRE
said. 
    The head of Covivio's Italian arm Alexei Dal Pastro told a
conference in Milan on Tuesday that Covivio was interested in
investing in Italian hotels, without giving more details.
    Convivio could not immediately be reached for comment on the
Varde deal. Varde declined to comment.
    French based Covivio has a stake of 42% in Covivio Hotels is
specialised in the management and rental of real estate assets.
    

 (Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; Editing by Silvia Aloisi and
Edmund Blair)
 ((elisa.anzolin@thomsonreuters.com; 0039 0266129692; Reuters
Messaging: elisa.anzolin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))