New York City-based KKR & Co. Inc and Boston-based Baupost Group bought a 33-hotel portfolio from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The price tag for the hotels is £900 million ($1.16 billion), according to Green Street News. They are all in the United Kingdom and are all Marriott International hotels under its flags Marriott and Delta by Marriott.
Hotels in the transaction include the 311-room London Marriott Hotel Regent’s Park and the 206-room London Marriott Hotel County Hall. The latter is the former home of the Greater London Council and across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament.
The Official Journal of the European Union on Oct. 15 said the “concentration [of the deal] is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.”
The European Commission approved the joint venture set up by the two investment firms on Oct. 28 after after first receiving notification of the partnership earlier in the month.
In May, KKR started the process of putting together a £600 million debt package to finance the transaction.
The hotels in the portfolio have had an interesting tale to tell over the last decade or so. In May, CoStar News reported the deal’s portfolio was the remnants of a larger portfolio the ADIA bought from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
According to CoStar News, ADIA “paid £640 million for 43 hotels in 2013. RBS sold the assets after seizing them in June 2011 from Delek Global Real Estate, Quinlan Private and Igal Ahouvi, which had paid £1.2 billion for the portfolio in 2007."
KKR is an active real estate investor. In May, the company partnered with London-based Amante Capital to acquire the 132-room Park Grand London Kensington Hotel from Bartek Holdings.
KKR declined to comment on the deal when contacted by Hotel News Now. Baupost did not respond to a request for comment by press time.