GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is the new majority shareholder in the Sani Resort and Ikos Group, which operate 10 luxury all-inclusive resorts along the Mediterranean coast in Greece and Spain.
According to a news release, the deal, the largest in Europe since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, values the Thessaloniki, Greece-based company at approximately 2.3 billion euros ($2.27 billion). The transaction is scheduled to close by the end of this year.
Sani/Ikos Group's former investors Florac, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Hermes GPE, Moonstone and Oaktree Capital Management will each sell their shares to GIC as part of the deal. Minority shares will continue to be held by Sani/Ikos Group's management team.
Andreas Andreadis and Mathieu Guillemin will continue to manage the hotel firm as co-CEOs and co-managing partners, and Stavros Andreadis is now honorary chairman.
Last year, the group issued 300 million euros in senior secured notes, which are due in 2026 and are expected to remain in place following the closing of the GIC deal. GIC also plans to invest more than 900 million euros in Sani/Ikos Group over a five-year period.
Sani/Ikos Group currently operates more than 2,750 rooms, and its pipeline consists of 1,578 rooms in four resorts, one of which will be an upcoming debut in Portugal.
Most of its assets are in its Ikos brand. The Ikos Odisia in Corfu, Greece, is the next property planned to open and will debut next May.
Lee Kok Sun, GIC’s chief investment officer, real estate, said in a statement that the deal is a major investment in European tourism.
“We believe this investment will generate resilient returns and is testament to our confidence in the Greek and wider European tourism sector over the long term,” he said in the release.
In 2019, GIC invested approximately $600 million in Indian Hotels Company Limited, which operates Taj Hotels, among other brands, in a three-year deal. It also bought 25% of hotel brand and operator citizenM, which put a value of the Dutch firm of 2 billion euros.