Swedish group Balder enters German hotel market

Stockholm-listed real estate company Fastighets AB Balder has made its first foray into the German market by acquiring a portfolio of hotels for €58m.

The assets have a total of 842 rooms over more than 40,000 sqm of lettable space and comprise two hotels in Berlin as well as properties in Leipzig, Erfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Malente and Bad Oldsoe.

The seller was Thai company Fico, which acquired them as part of a larger portfolio from Grand City in 2014 for a total price of €80m. At the time the portfolio also included further properties in Antwerp and Dresden.

Gothenburg-headquartered Ligula Hospitality has taken over the management of the hotels from Grand City’s subsidiary GCH. Lingula has signed a 20-year lease for the hotels, which currently operate under the names Ibis, Tryp by Wyndham and Days Inn.

Balder said the annual rental income was €4.3m, with the Berlin hotels accounting for around 40% of the total.

'We have a very long-term approach and hopefully we will be investing in Germany for many years to come,' said Balder CFO Marcus Hansson.

Balder's real estate portfolio is comprised primarily of residential real estate and is located in such cities, as Stockholm, Gothenburg, Lund, Malmo, Norrkoping, as well as in regions outside metropolitan areas of Sweden and in the Copenhagen region in Denmark.