Activum sells Madrid’s office-to-Hard Rock Hotel for €65m
ActivumSG Capital Management has sold the 161-room Hard Rock Hotel Madrid in the Spanish capital’s Museum District to investment and management company Arlaes Management for €65 million.
Turnaround and opportunistic property fund manager ActivumSG sold the asset on behalf of the ActivumSG Iberia Fund I, which had transformed a former municipal office building into the 12,598 sq m hotel that opened in July 2021.
The project entailed obtaining planning consent for change of use, acquiring an adjacent plot to increase the hotel’s amenities and overseeing the transformation work. A management agreement was also agreed with Hard Rock International, which will continue to operate the hotel.
“Our pan-European hotel strategies started in 2015, when we began to assemble a portfolio of assets in Spain’s major destinations,” Brian Betel, ActivumSG’s head of direct transactions in Europe explained. “We’re positive about the sector, anticipating a rebound in tourism and eventually business travel as the COVID- 19 pandemic recedes, so we’re looking for fresh investment opportunities.”
ActivumSG funds own, are building or operate 22 hotels across Europe with a total of almost 4,000 guest rooms. This will increase to more than 7,750 keys owing to a pipeline of openings by Odyssey Hotel Group which ActivumSG acquired last year.
JLL and Latham & Watkins advised ActivumSG Iberia Fund I on the Madrid hotel sale and Knight Frank acted for Arlaes Management.
