SIGNA Acquire the Bauer Hotel in Venice

Main Photo: The rooftop view from the Bauer Hotel

Date: June 2020

Location: Close to St Marks Square, Venice, Italy

Name: Bauer Hotel

No. of Keys: 210

Seller: US hedge fund Elliott Management and its co-investment partner, London-based Blue Skye Investment Group. Elliott was founded in 1977 with $40 billion assets under management. NYC HQ with offices in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Buyer: Austrian real estate investor SIGNA Group, adding to it’s hotel portfolio which includes the Park Hyatt Vienna, The Chalet N in Lech am Arlberg,   and the Villa Eden luxury resort at Lake Garda in Italy. They are also major players in Retail, also under the SIGNA brand, with 370 locations and 100 internet shops, in 20 countries.

Located just three minutes walk from St Mark´s Square, the Bauer Palazzo had been acquired by Elliott and Blue Skye from the Bortolotto Passati family through a series of debt restructuring deals between 2017 and 2019.

The sale of the iconic hotel to Signa was expected since February. At the time, it was said that SIGNA was also looking to purchase, from the Bauer group, the Palladio and Villa Effe hotels. In the end however, the Austrian group has purchased only the Bauer hotel.

Led by Salvatore Cerchione and Gianluca D’Avanzo, in 2012 Blue Skye had previously restructured €6 million of Harry’s Bar‘s debt in Venice and bought 16% of the capital of the Cipriani family holding and has already invested several times alongside by Elliott. They participated with Elliott in the financing of Milan soccer team.

THPT Comment: This acquisition complements SIGNA’s hotel portfolio nicely.

First Seen: Be Beez Italy

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