European hotel fund raises €680m

Madrid-based private equity real estate manager Azora has raised €680m (£620m) for the launch of its new European leisure hotel fund. The fund will invest in hotel opportunities across Europe with a “significant proportion” of acquisitions to be located in Spain, the company said. A portfolio of 10 hotels in resorts along the Spanish coast have already been secured, as well as four city centre assets in Madrid, Lisbon, Brussels and Bilbao. Azora said the commitments were signed through lockdown and the fund attracted one of Europe’s largest pension fund investors, sovereign wealth funds, and a global institutional investor. Azora founding partner Concha Osácar said the commitments secured during the lockdown period “underscore the international investor community’s confidence in both our ability as a manager to create value, and in the ongoing potential of the European hospitality industry as an institutional asset class, regardless of the short-term impact of the Covid crisis, which we also believe will result in additional opportunities over and above those envisaged in our original business plan”. To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette