The hotel investment volumes across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region witnessed a 53 per cent year-to-date growth in September to reach 8.2 billion euros ($11 billion) compared to last year, said a report.

The single asset deals secured a 54 per cent share of transaction volumes overall, up 13 per cent compared to last year. The rest came from a number of notable portfolio deals driving transaction volumes up by more than 160 per cent, according to property expert Jones Lang LaSalle.

The most notable single asset transactions during Q3 included the sale of the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments in London which was sold to the Federal Land Development Authority of Malaysia for a reported 116.6 million euros, followed by the First Hotel Amaranten in Stockholm for 114.7 million euros and the Hotel Eden in Rome to The Dorchester Group for 105 million euros, said JLL in its EMEA Q3 review.

In terms of portfolio sales, the private equity firm Gecina sold four Club Med holiday villages for 280 million euros as part of the company’s strategy to focus on other core business assets, while Spanish-based Derby Hotels Collection bought its remaining 50 per cent stake in the Caesar Hotel in London and the Banke Hotel in Paris for 240 million euros from Investment Fund Grupo Metropolis.

The UK remains the most liquid market in EMEA, with investment volumes exceeding 2.6 billion euros September YTD – a 32 per cent share of total transaction volumes – followed by France at 1.5 billion euros (19 per cent).

The dominant investor groups included sovereign wealth funds representing 26 per cent of total investment volumes, followed by investment funds and private equity firms with 24 per cent share.

Continuing their prevalent asset-light strategy of the past decade, hotel operators were the most active sellers during the first nine months, accounting for a 29 per cent market share of disposals, said the JLL report.

The 2.3 billion euros worth of transactions by operators included the sale of 27 Principal Hayley hotels to Starwood Capital, while Fattal Group’s Leonardo Hotels led a consortium of international investors to acquire Queens Moat Houses (Germany) Holding.

Jonathan Hubbard, the CEO of Northern Europe for JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group said the third quarter reported the strongest quarterly growth so far this year, with transaction volumes up almost 70 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

"With just three months to go until year-end, transaction volumes across EMEA look likely exceed 10 billion euros for 2013, well ahead of initial expectations for the year, reflecting the increasingly positive investor outlook," he noted.  

Christoph Härle, the CEO of Continental Europe for JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group said, "The UK and France continue to lead transaction activity across EMEA, with almost 40 per cent of the 2.3 billion euros of Q3 transactions occurring  in these countries. Trading performance in Southern Europe is picking up pace, with countries such as Portugal and Italy posting robust RevPAR growth."

"This is good news for investors looking to purchase assets in these countries that were, just some time ago, struggling through the economic crisis," he added.-TradeArabia News Service