S+B Gruppe buys Prague hotel from Corinthia

Panorama Hotel Prague sold

Confirming the current trend of the disposals of important Prague hotels, the 440-room 4-star Panorama Hotel Prague has recently changed ownership. The Corinthia Hotel Group sold it to the Austrian investor S+B, with Cushman & Wakefield assisting the seller in the transaction.

Frederic Le Fichoux, Partner & Head of Hotel Transactions for Continental Europe at Cushman & Wakefield said: “The strong interest from investors with a diverse source of capital and origin proves again that Prague and the CEE region are increasing their appeal for hotel investors.”

Frederic Le Fichoux

Partner – Global Hospitality Group
Cushman & Wakefield

Frédéric Le Fichoux is a partner at Cushman & Wakefield. He is leading the hotel transactions’ teams in Continental Europe and supporting the hospitality team in Central & Eastern Europe. With over 17 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Fred has an extensive knowledge of the hotel real estate sector and is a recognized expert in the European market. He has spent the last 10 years in managing and growing the hospitality team for the CEE region at Cushman and Wakefield. His latest responsibilities are focused on hotel transaction advisory and brokerage services across continental Europe. Fred has advised on the acquisition and disposal of over EUR 700 million of hotel transactions in Europe over the past years. He holds a MBA in Hospitality Management from Cornell University and ESSEC Business School. He is also Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) since 2010. More »

Prague in the lead

Of this year’s 10 transactions, six took place in Prague, amounting for €483 million. Of these, four were executed by Cushman & Wakefield, which thus transacted a total of 72% of the deal volume, proving the firm’s hospitality team’s 17 members’ unparalleled expertise and best position in the CEE market: the sale of Panorama Hotel Prague is their 25th transaction in the region in the past 5 years.

This deal is another of a series of sales of Prague’s big-box 4-star hotels: in 2017, the 398-room hotel Diplomat was sold to the Thai investor Ucity, while earlier this year, the 412-room Don Giovanni hotel was sold to the Norwegian investor Wenaasgruppen.

Unique opportunity and potential

The Panorama transaction is unique in that not only the large full-service 440-room hotel was offered for sale, but so was the adjacent large prime site in Prague 4 CBD (central business district), providing for a huge development potential waiting to be unlocked.

This allowed a number of possible opportunities to be considered – ranging from renovating the hotel and branding it with an international renowned hotel operator while building an office, residential or retail complex on the neighboring plot – to demolition of the existing hotel and constructing an iconic mixed-use project over the two plots (depending on the permits that could be obtained).

More hotel transactions expected

Magsud Rahmanov, Senior Hotel Investment Advisor for Continental Europe at Cushman & Wakefield said: “Judging from the record number of interested parties and strong offers from a diverse pool of capital the property has received, the appetite for value-add hotel investment opportunities in Prague is high. Therefore, we can expect more hotel transactions to happen in the coming months.”