Singapore-based Hotel Properties Limited has acquired the 139-room InterContinental Auckland for 180 million New Zealand dollars ($101.2 million) from publicly listed Precinct Properties 1 Queen Street Limited.
In a news release, HPL called the off-market deal the "largest single hotel asset sale in New Zealand's history."
Maxford Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of HPL, conducted the March 4 acquisition, which included the entire issued share capital of Precinct.
HPL said Auckland is an important market. Though not the capital of New Zealand, one-third of the country's population lives there.
The deal, subject to a net working capital adjustment to be finalized upon completion, was “negotiated at arm’s length on a willing buyer-willing seller basis, taking into consideration the trading performance of the business of the hotel," according to HPL.
“The transaction shall be funded by way of a third-party loan financing and internal resources and is not expected to have any material impact on HPL’s net tangible assets per share and earnings per share, based on the HPL Group’s consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2024.”
According to CoStar, the hotel, at 1 Queen St., was built in 1971 and has 21 floors. It overlooks the city’s Waitematā Harbor.
The New Zealand Herald quoted Precinct’s CEO Scott Pritchard as saying Precinct acquired the building in which the hotel resides in 2012.
Formerly occupied by bank HSBC, the building has been home to the Intercontinental Auckland only since January 2024.
In its latest published earnings report for full-year 2023, HPL said it “recorded a revenue of 642.1 million Singapore dollars ($478 million), which is 22.2% higher than the SG$525.5 million recorded [in 2022]. Gross profit also increased by 39.2% from SG$105.4 million for full-year 2022 to SG$146.7 million for [full-year 2023].
“The increase was mainly attributable to better performance by the group’s hotels and resorts in general, in line with the continued recovery in international travel,” HPL's earnings release added.
HPL, a conglomerate, has 41 hotels in 17 countries: Bhutan, Indonesia, Italy, Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom and the U.S. Its brand affiliations include COMO Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Hard Rock Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, Six Senses Hotels & Resorts and Concorde Hotels.