Investment fund Gaw Capital Partners has teamed up with listed property investment company CSI Properties to buy a hotel in Jordan for about HK$2.37 billion, the city's biggest hotel transaction in 11 years.
LaSalle Investment Management said yesterday its investment fund, LaSalle Asia Opportunity Fund II, sold its wholly owned Novotel Nathan Road Hong Kong to the fund managed by Gaw Capital and CSI Properties.
Gaw Capital co-founder Goodwin Gaw said he was bullish on Hong Kong's tourism sector. 'Increasing visitor numbers, especially from the mainland, should be good for the hotel and retail businesses. The asset [Novotel Nathan Road] has both a hotel and a retail component. Also, there is an emerging shortage of hotel rooms in Hong Kong,' he said.
This is the first joint-venture project between Gaw Capital and CSI Properties. The four-star hotel, at 348 Nathan Road, has 389 guest rooms and was formerly called the Majestic Hong Kong Hotel.
The fund managed by LaSalle Investment acquired the hotel for HK$1.69 billion in May 2007 and spent about HK$187 million on renovations. The latest transaction means the fund may make a gross profit of about HK$493 million, excluding the hotel income generated over the last four years.
The hotel's occupancy rate has been more than 95 per cent since its rebranding four years ago.
