Athens-based Premia Properties Real Estate Investment Co. has agreed to acquire two hotels in Greece for €112.5 million ($122 million) from Stockholm-based operator and package-vacation firm Nordic Leisure Travel Group HH Greece Single Member S.A.
Announced on Aug. 1, the deal will see Premia acquire 100% of Sunwing Hotels Hellas Single Members S.A., which includes the 534-room Sunwing Kallithea Beach on Rhodes; and 100% of Helios Palace S.A., which includes the 262-room Sunwing Makrigalos & Ocean Beach Club on Crete.
Both hotels were previously owned and operated by Premia, which has numerous business interests in several real-estate classes, including logistics and residential.
Closing is due to be completed by the end of the year.
The sales-and-leaseback transaction is a major milestone for the two resorts. Nordic Leisure Travel Group owned and operated the Rhodes asset for 50 years and the Crete asset for 40 years.
It will continue to operate the hotels under a “long-term, triple-net lease agreement for an initial duration of 15 years with extension options of the lease for a period of 10,” according to a news release.
The selling entity, a subsidiary of Nordic Leisure Travel Group, is a joint venture mostly comprised of Altor Funds (39.7%), Strawberry Group (37%) and TDR Capital (19.9%). NLTG was founded in 1956 and, the release added, sells 1.5 million vacation trips annually. TDR is based in London, while the other two main stockholders are based in Stockholm.
Strawberry, the new name since 2023 for Nordic Choice Hotels, is one of the business vehicles of Norwegian businessman Petter Stordalen. The hotel firm has 245 properties, mostly in Norway and Sweden but also in Finland, Denmark, Lithuania and the Faroe Islands. It has a master franchise agreement with Choice Hotels International.
“The deal marks an exciting chapter, and we are thrilled to announce our new collaboration with Premia Properties. By combining NLTG Group’s comprehensive knowledge within hospitality and Premia and [its chairman] Elias Georgiadis’s impressive entrepreneurial track record, I am confident we will create both value and growth,” Stordalen said.
Premia trades on the Athens Stock Exchange.