Brookfield expands its portfolio in Spain and acquires a hotel in Madrid for 175 million | Companies

The Canadian fund Brookfield continues to expand its footprint in Spain. After closing the purchase of four hotels of the Selenta chain (two in Barcelona, ​​one in Marbella and one in Tenerife) for 440 million euros in July 2021, this morning it has made public the acquisition of the Triángulo Princesa complex, located in the center of Madrid next to El Corte Inglés de Princesa.

The complex, with an area of ​​63,000 square meters, has a four-star hotel with 423 rooms, an empty office building of 4,600 square meters, six commercial premises and a car park with 547 spaces.. In a note, JLL, which has acted as one of the sales advisors, highlights that “the immediate environment and the connectivity of the asset are favored by its proximity to the Plaza de España, which, after a comprehensive reform, was reopened to the public in November 2021 with 70,000 square meters of new pedestrian zones and green spaces”.

The resort’s history has been a checkered one since the Great Recession hit. The first change of hands occurred in 2010, when Metrovacesa, suffocated by the real estate crash, sold the complex to the Continental Property Investor (CPI) fund, which included the hotel (managed under Joan Gaspart’s Husa brand), the office building and the car park, for a price of close to 120 million euros. Since that sale, all were problems: Husa, which finally filed for bankruptcy in 2021, left the management (Marriott had it between 2016 and 2020), and CPI also filed for bankruptcy in 2014. It wasn’t until 2018 that Colony NorhStaran American investment fund, took advantage of CPI’s weakness to acquire all its properties in Spain.

In the accelerated sale of the property, the hotel fever in Madrid has had a great influence with the massive entry of operators in search of opportunities: Marriott with the new Edition, Four Seasons with the Canalejas complex, Mandarin premiering the reform of the Ritz or Rosewood, the manager of the new Villa Magna hotel. Another asset that may change hands in the coming weeks is the Miguel Ángel hotel, also located in the center of Madrid. The asset, owned by British-Iraqi businessman Nadhmi Auchi and managed by Bluebay, could pass into the hands of Stoneweg and Bain Capital, as published by Cinco Días on May 24. The talks, which were very advanced, have run aground before the starting price of the operation, around 200 million euros, which for now the property is not willing to lower.

Sources close to the negotiation point out that the potential buyers who have submitted offers have requested, at a minimum, a reduction of at least 40 million euros, which is the estimated cost of the complete reconversion of the 267 rooms and the common areas of the entire building.