The ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund, a hotel real estate fund set up by fund management company ECE Real Estate Partners, has acquired its first initial asset, with two real estate developers partnering in the transaction, Soravia and Denkmalneu.
German real estate fund manager ECE Real Estate Partners, in association with real estate developers Soravia and Denkmalneu, has acquired the 191-room Hotel Bonvecchiati in Venice for approximately €100 million (€523,000 per room) from the owner families that previously ran the property. The property, which is located halfway between St. Mark's Square and the Rialto Bridge, covers some 10,000 square meters and includes a restaurant, spa and two private moorings. The hotel will undergo a complete renovation and be branded with a major international lifestyle brand. The property will be placed in the new ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund, which is anchored by the Otto family office.
Having acquired a seed asset in such a unique location for our first ECE hotel fund underlines our determination to use all available resources in the ECE Group to repeat the previous successes achieved for our investors in the ECE shopping centre funds now also in the lodging sector. We see very good opportunities for our approach in the hotel real estate market right now.
Dr. Volker Kraft, Managing Partner of ECE Real Estate Partners
The Luxembourg-based ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund is targeted at institutional investors such as insurance companies, sovereign-wealth funds, and pension funds. It intends to invest approx. €300 million of equity into select hotel assets with value-add opportunities. The already existing investors are the Family Office of the Otto family and the fund management team.
