Commerz Real Sells Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome, Berlin Hotel to GIC

Main Photo: The Hotel de Rome, Berlin

Date: December 2019

Location: Berlin-Mitte, Germany

Name: The Hotel de Rome

No. of Keys: 145, including 37 suites

Seller: German real estate fund Commerz Real has sold the 145-room Hotel de Rome, operated by the Rocco Forte hotel firm. Built in 1889 as the headquarters of Dresdner Bank, the building later accommodated the East German state bank and was fully renovated in 2006.
Commerz has held the property in its Hausinvest fund since 2007, having acquired the hotel for a reported €79 million in 2007 from hotelier Rocco Forte after the property was converted into a hotel the year before.

Buyer: In an off-market transaction Commerz Real has sold Hotel de Rome in Berlin to Caleus Capital Partners, an investment partnership of the Caleus Group and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. “We have utilised the ongoing high demand for properties in prime locations to attain a very good result for our investors,” explains Henning Koch, Global Head of Transactions at Commerz Real.

“We are pleased that we have been able to continue our successful investment strategy with this prestigious property in the heart of the nation’s capital after already acquiring two other properties on Wallstrasse and Chausseestrasse in off-market transactions this year,” says Patrick Reich, Managing Partner of Caleus.

With a contemporary interior design the hotel has a gross floor area of approx. 18,300 square metres, accommodating 108 rooms and 37 suites, as well as a ballroom and spa area with a 20-metre pool in what was the former vault.

Commerz Real was advised on legal aspects of the transaction by the law firm Taylor Wessing, Berlin. Caleus was accompanied by Jones Lang Lasalle; it also received legal and tax advice from Pöllath und Partners.

The acquisition comes just over three weeks after GIC paid a reported €530 million for the 40-storey PB6 tower in Paris, and is the latest in a series of overseas property investments by Singaporean investors.

A 38 square metre deluxe room overlooking Hedwig’s Cathedral is priced at €322 per night, while the rate for the 85 square metre historic banker suite housed in the former bank conference room is €2,300 per night.

The 200 square metre Royal Bebel 2 Bedroom Suite – the hotel’s most expensive — is priced at €18,000 for the night.

Price: While financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed, the 145-key hotel is listed by Commerz Real’s Hausinvest fund as being valued at €125.9 million.

Price per Key: €869m

THPT Comment: Commerz Real have done well in capital appreciation in 12 years, and puts the hotel up there at just under €900m a key. Quality will always do well.

First Seen: Mingtiandi

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