Grosvenor House sold for the second time in 16 months
Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott hotel, has a new owner just a year after being sold to Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.
The US-based real estate investment firm acquired the five-AA-star, 494-bedroom property in London's Mayfair from Subrata Roy's Sahara India Pariwar for £550m in July last year.
Katara Hospitality, the hotels division of Qatar Investment Authority, has bought the property for an undisclosed sum. The group already owns the Maybourne Hotel Group (which incorporates Claridge's, the Berkeley and the Connaught), Harrods department store and the Rosewood hotel being developed at the former American Embassy. It also co-owns the Savoy.
A spokesperson for Marriott, which operates the hotel under a lease until 2052, said: "The name of the hotel and Marriott International's operating lease continues. The transaction does not impact day-to-day business or our employees."
Ben Godon and Joseph Kassouf, of hospitality asset management, Colliers International who brokered the deal, said: "This transaction demonstrates a growing appetite from Middle Eastern investors for core hotel real estate in London due to high liquidity, a dynamic market and a comprehensive understanding of our local tax and legal systems."
The hotel was sold to Subrata Roy for £470m by RBS in 2010, however Roy was jailed in 2014 and the hotel fell into administration in 2015.
The property was subsequently put on the market and the Qatar Investment Authority was reported to be one of the parties involved in negotiations but pulled out. Ashkenazy acquired the property after it exited administration in January 2017 following a refinancing deal with the billionaire property investors, the Reuben brothers.
Grosvenor House hotel was built in the 1920s on the site of Grosvenor House, the former London residence of the Dukes of Westminster.
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