Today Delta Private Equity Partners and SAS Investitions GmbH announced the sale of Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, St Petersburg to Wenaasgruppen AS. A 100% stake in the hotel was sold.
The five star Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, located on the main boulevard of St Petersburg, was the first privately developed and owned hotel in the city. The hotel construction on Nevsky prospect begun in 1998 with support from the St Petersburg city administration and a local Russian partner. The equity investors together with EBRD, as a lender, restored the historical building and opened the hotel doors in July 2001. Today, this 164-room hotel is an established landmark in the heart of Russia’s imperial capital. Perfect location, well-preserved historical features and impeccable service make the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Nevsky 49, one of the most desirable business addresses in St Petersburg.
Wenaasgruppen is a Norwegian company with business interests in hotels, shipping and textiles. Its direct investments in Russia to date amount to over US dollar 60 million including the investment in the Radisson SAS Royal hotel. Wenaasgruppen already owns 17 hotels and is one of the largest hotel property companies in Scandinavia. In 2004, the company established itself in St Petersburg with the aim of developing a major hotel portfolio in the city.
Marko Hytonen, Area Vice President, Rezidor SAS Hospitality comments: "Rezidor SAS welcomes the fact that the investors have showed such strong interest in purchasing our managed property in St Petersburg. Currently, Rezidor SAS has the strongest representation of all international hotel groups in Russia, with five hotels in operation under the Radisson SAS brand name - in Moscow, St Petersburg and Sochi. It is the company's main strategy to manage hotels and resorts providing comfort, efficiency and value for money to all customers, and to optimize owner's return on capital invested”. “Rezidor SAS Hospitality is the largest, first-class international hotel company in Northern and Western Europe”, he continues.
Commenting on the deal, Paul Price, Managing Director of Delta Private Equity Partners, said “Despite the difficult earlier project phase, we, as lead investor, are very happy with the final outcome; Radisson SAS will continue as operator and Wenaasgruppen A.S., a high caliber owner, should make an excellent partner for the city in this and its other planned hotels.”
Lars Wenaas, Managing Director of Wenaasgruppen A/S, said “We are glad to have finalized the acquisition of this centrally located hotel in St Petersburg and to be able to continue the cooperation with Radisson SAS as operator. With our plans for further expansion within hotel properties in St Petersburg and Russia it is very important for us to have succeeded with the purchase of this beautiful property on Nevsky Prospect. This investment shows that we have both determination and ability to make investments in centrally located hotel properties, and it gives us advantageous experience for future investments”.
About Wenaasgruppen.
Wenaasgruppen A/S is one of the largest hotel real estate companies in Scandinavia with 17 hotels and 3.600 rooms. Among other properties the corporation owns Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel in Oslo, which is the largest hotel in Scandinavia, and Radisson SAS Royal Hotel and Scandinavia Hotel in Copenhagen. In addition Wenaasgruppen has investments within textile industry and shipping.
Contacts
Lars Wenaas Tel + 47 92416100 – lw@wenaasgruppen.no
Managing Director
About Delta Private Equity Partners.
Delta Private Equity Partners is a leading private equity manager dedicated to developing and funding emerging growth companies in Russia that possess the potential to become market leaders. It has invested over $300 million in 44 Russian companies through The US Russia Investment Fund established in 1994 and Delta Russia Fund, a successor private fund set up in 2004. More information is available at www.dpep.com
Contacts
Katerina Panteliushina Tel +7 (095) 960-3131 - epanteliushina@dpep.com
Director for Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
About Rezidor.
Rezidor SAS Hospitality is one of the fastest growing hospitality companies in the world and currently has 252 hotels, encompassing over 47,000 rooms, in operation and under development in 48 countries, with the aim to develop 700 hotels across its different brands by 2012.
In September 2002, Rezidor SAS announced a unique deal with US-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide to expand selected Carlson brands in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Rezidor SAS now operates Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts, Regent International Hotels Park Inn and Country Inns & Sutes in these areas. Initially Rezidor SAS Hospitality was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Stockholm-based SAS Group. In June 2005 Rezidor SAS Hospitality completed the strategic agreement with US-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide, which resulted in an enhancement of their long-time franchise partnership into a shareholder agreement. Carlson Hotels Worldwide acquired a 25 percent shareholding in Rezidor SAS Hospitality from SAS group in return for renegotiated commercial terms of the parties' current Master Franchise Agreement. Rezidor SAS Hospitality head office is based in Brussels. For more information on Rezidor SAS and its different brands, visit www.rezidorsas.com
Contacts
Birgit Borreck Tel +32 2702 9224 - Birgit.borreck@rezidorsas.com
Director of Corporate Communications
Rezidor SAS Hospitality
