Brookfield Asset Management fund has put five ex-Thakral hotels and associated properties valued at over $600 million on the market, including the prized Sofitel Brisbane. The portfolio comprises more than 1650 rooms and could shake up the domestic hotel market by bring new offshore entrants into the arena. The hotels are on the eastern seaboard, stretching from Brisbane to Melbourne, and are being offered as a package.
Sofitel Brisbane is the jewel of the portfolio, partly owing to the tightness of the hotel market in the Queensland capital and also because it offers the opportunity to build another tower or hotel on adjoining property. Both these factors are expected to make the hotel attractive to Asian investors.
The other hotels are Sofitel Gold Goast, the Sydney-based Menzies, and the Novotel Brighton and Wollongong. Currently, Accor manages four of the hotels and it is expected that its partner in Singapore, Ascendas, will be looking at the portfolio.
Brookfield took over Thakral last year with an eye on its Wynyard City One development in Sydney, and the $600 million hotel portfolio was part of the deal.