Ott Ventures, the private equity arm and fund management platform run by Orco Property Group and MaMaison Hotels & Residences founder Ott Properties, has announced the launch of its first hotel fund, Velvet. The pan-European investment vehicle is targeting total assets under management of €500 million with a planned LTV of 50%. It will invest across Europe with a focus on the main Central European markets of Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary as well as Germany and Austria.
The Velvet hotel fund will invest in properties from budget to trophy assets, in city centre locations, both in existing properties and developments. It has already identified several opportunities for its seed portfolio.
“The current market conditions will allow us to have access to attractive investment opportunities by bringing much-needed equity or hybrid equity to investors or operators facing cash flow challenges. With 30 years of experience in turning around hotels and deploying capital I have put together a team of hotel experts with extensive experience in Central Europe, which is our geographical focus, but we will remain open to investing in other major European markets should we find opportunities that match our knowledge, strategy and target returns,” Jean-François Ott, Founder and CEO of Ott Ventures said.
As the now-defunct Orco Property Group, the company’s team worked with EBRD on developing MaMaison Hotels & Residences in the region and later teamed up with AIG. It was the first international player to invest in the Sunčani Hvar resort on the island of Hvar in Croatia. Both MaMaison Hotels & Residences and Sunčani Hvar were later acquired by CPI Property Group and in 2016 Orco itself was taken over by the Czech real estate investor. Ott Ventures was set up as its own fund management platform in 2019 and has since launched its first logistics fund.
