Davidson Kempner Capital Management, which has a portfolio of approximately $40 billion in assets, according to its website, has concluded a deal for hotels in Portugal valued at 850 million euros ($908 million). The deal was agreed to in late 2021 but stalled due to a disagreement over which assets would be in the final sale.
According to Portuguese real-estate publication Vida Imobiliá, the deal was completed on Dec. 29, 2022, with, among others, Portuguese banks Banco Comercial Português, Novo Banco and state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos. It includes a portfolio of 23 hotels from Portuguese private-equity firm ECS Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Capital de Risco.
Managed by NAU Hotels & Resorts, a brand created by ECS, the hotels include the 60-room Palácio do Governador in Lisbon and several in the coastal vacation destination of The Algarve, including the 149-room NAU São Rafael Atlântico and 98-room Morgado Golf & Country Club.
The deal also includes the 154-room Conrad Algarve and 176-room Hilton Vilamoura As Cascatas Golf Resort & Spa, also both in The Algarve.
The deal had stalled since seemingly being completed in August 2022, when it was valued at approximately 900 million euros, but disagreement arose concerning the inclusion of seven assets not in ECS’s “Crow Project” portfolio of assets.
Vida Imobiliá added that of the sellers, only Novo Banco stated the sum it received in the transaction, 224 million euros, and for all involved “the sale of ECS will make it possible to reduce exposure to troubled assets.”