Swiss investment firm Partners Group announced it has acquired a majority stake in Palma de Mallorca-based hotel firm Bluesea Hotels, although it did not provide any financial details.
A Nov. 20 news release from Partners Group said the deal is a “partnership with Portobello Capital, a leading independent mid-market private equity firm.” As part of the deal, Partners Group will have a seat on Bluesea's board of directors.
Bluesea has 25 hotels, all but one of which are in Spain, with a total portfolio of approximately 5,100 rooms. The majority of the portfolio are Spanish properties, mostly in resort destinations — Costa Brava, Costa del Sol, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Mallorca and Tenerife — but it also has two urban hotels, one in the Spanish capital of Madrid and the other in Marrakech, Morocco, its only non-Spanish asset.
Geoffrey Bonnefoy-Cudraz, senior vice president at Partners Group, said the firm’s strategy is to create value by expanding the acquisitions portfolio and employing capital expenditure to existing hotels.
He said Partners Group would be “capitalizing on the highly fragmented three- to four-star hotel segment in Spain, which represents the majority of the country’s hospitality market.”
According to Partners Group’s website, the firm has a market capitalization of 33.86 billion Swiss francs ($37.87 billion). It is listed on the Swiss Exchange stock exchange and is included in the Swiss Market, an index of the 20 largest publicly traded companies in Switzerland. Its year-to-date share price has risen 11.57%.
Partners Group added it is attracted to Spain because of its popularity as a vacation destination and its lack of supply.
It said in its estimation, the number of hotel rooms in Spain “under construction is estimated to have fallen nearly 8.5% from a 2019 peak, with supply expected to remain muted for the next five years.”
It added the firm’s global real estate portfolio, in hotels and in other real estate asset classes, had a total gross asset value of $43 billion. Overall, it has approximately $150 billion in assets under management.
Last week, in a deal with partners Oaktree Capital Management and Trinity Investments, Partners Group acquired the 266-room The Standard, London from Crosstree Real Estate Partners LLP.
The price for that transaction also was not disclosed, but, according to CoStar data, when the hotel opened in 2019, it was converted for £60 million ($75.2 million).
Partners Group's latest press statement added the firm’s hotel assets include the 427-room Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas; Alpine resort brand CGH Residences; and a “portfolio of Accor and Ibis hotels across Sydney and other metropolitan areas in Australia.”
Spain has seen notable transaction activity in the hotel industry in 2024. The Partners Group deal follows Geneva, Switzerland-based investor Stoneweg Hospitality and Canary Islands-based owner-operator Lopesan Hotel Group’s acquisition on Nov. 14 of the 241-room Hotel Miguel Ángel in Madrid for €210 million or approximately €871,000 per key.
In July, Room Mate Hotels, the Madrid-based division of Room Mate Hospitality Holdings, acquired Staying Valencia, a brand with 10 hotels all in the Spanish city of Valencia.
In September, Dorsa Holding Group and Room00 Group, both based in Madrid, acquired 100% of the shares of TOC Hostels for approximately €20 million, a deal that comprised 30 hotels and 1,360 rooms in operation and 20 hotels and 900 rooms in the pipeline, all in Spain.