Hong Kong-based investment manager Baring Private Equity Asia (“BPEA”) has acquired 587-key Hilton Sydney for approximately AUD530 million and AUD900,000 per-key, the biggest hotel deal in Australian history.
BPEA forecasts the country’s strong recovery in the tourism sector and the underlying value of central business district hospitality real estate. The seller is the Singapore-based Bright Ruby, which paid AUD442 million to acquire Hilton Sydney in 2015. The deal size of the acquisition is the highest ever paid for an operating hotel, beating the AUD463 million paid by China-based insurer Sunshine Insurance Group for Sydney’s 557-key Sheraton on the Park in 2014. In March 2022, Sweden-based private equity firm EQT Group acquired BPEA for AUD10.4 billion as part of plans to expand its investment portfolio in APAC including Australia. Recent analytics from STR show that Sydney and Melbourne reached an average occupancy rate of 47% over the Q1 2022, while Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide demonstrate average occupancy rate of 54-57% in Q1 2022. |