A consortium will acquire the 286-room Stamford Plaza Auckland hotel for 170 million New Zealand dollars ($94.6 million), setting a record for an unconditional single hotel asset sale in the country.
The hotel was originally branded as The Regent and was operated by Stamford Hotels & Resorts for the last 27 years. The deal is expected to close later this year.
The consortium includes CP Group, the largest hotel owner in New Zealand, as well as global investment firm Alvarium Investments and Archipelago Capital, according to a news release from JLL, the broker in the deal.
Alvarium Investments founder and global co-chair Andrew Williams said in the release that the addition of the hotel to its portfolio comes at an opportune time to capitalize on current market conditions.
“We see New Zealand as a secure real estate market, buoyed by a rebounding hospitality and tourism sector, and well-positioned post the peak of the pandemic,” Williams said.
The Stamford brand has been adding value to the quality of its high-end hotels in New Zealand. The Stamford Group upgraded the Stamford Plaza in 2008 and also added 149 luxury apartments, said Thomas Ong, chief operating officer of Stamford Hotels & Resorts, in the release.
“The divestment represents a recalibration of the group’s investment strategy, which has made in-roads into other real estate classes within the global marketplace, such as trophy asset properties in the city of London,” Ong said. “The group is well-capitalized with no debts and will continue to seek out investment opportunities whenever it can add value.”
Finalizing a deal of this size is proof of the appetite across New Zealand’s hotel sector due to the strength in the market despite economic turbulence, said Nick Thompson, director of hotels and hospitality at JLL in New Zealand, in the release.
“The hotel market is trending upwards following two years of uncertainty, and that movement is indicative of the strength of the market,” he said.
The acquisition of the Stamford Plaza in Auckland’s central business district by the consortium is a great opportunity given the rebounding market, Thompson said. There are plans to refurbish the hotel and reflag it under an international name.
The most recent comparable hotel deal in New Zealand with a price tag more than 100 million New Zealand dollars was the Rendezvous Hotel, now the Grand Millennium Hotel, that sold for 113 million New Zealand dollars in 2006, according to the release.