In what can be viewed as a vote of confidence for the hotel industry and luxury, in general, a unit of Hong Kong’s New World Development Co. made an even bigger splash in the North American hotel market on Friday by acquiring five hotels from the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts portfolio for a reported US$570 million. Last month, New World, controlled by billionaire Cheng Yu-tung and his family, acquired the 19-property resort brand for US$229.5 million from Los Angeles-based Maritz, Wolff & Co., and Rosewood Corp. of Dallas.
In this latest deal, which demonstrate Asian developers’ appetite for global expansion and ready low-cost capital to close quickly, New World acquired the famed The Carlyle in New York City, the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Rosewood Little Dix Bay in the British Virgin Islands, as well as the Rosewood Crescent Hotel and Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, both in Dallas. Based on the reported sale price, the 678-key portfolio, on average, sold for approximately US$840,700 per key.
“It is an interesting deal as it will allow Rosewood the impetus to grow not only in North America and Europe with New World’s financial muscle, but importantly in Asia and particularly in China,” commented Laurence Geller, CEO of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Chicago. “If New World sticks with the company, they have the real estate experience and boldness to create a real upmarket brand which will be very competitive. To attempt to grow by management contracts alone would have been a long a hard path for Rosewood in a very competitive environment.”
The Chengs also own the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, and had a former interest in the Four Seasons Hotel New York and Regent Hotel Hong Kong.
Bloomberg reports that Maritz Wolff is now down to stakes in four hotels, down from almost 50 a decade ago, and already has its Fairmont San Francisco on the market.
