- BLUESEA owns and operates 25 hotels in popular tourist destinations
- Transformational value creation plan includes acquisitions and refurbishments
- Partners Group continues to build vertical depth in real estate sectors where it has thematic conviction, including hospitality
Partners Group, one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry, acting on behalf of its clients, has acquired a majority stake in BLUESEA Hotels (“BLUESEA” or “the Company”), a hospitality platform in Spain, in partnership with Portobello Capital, a leading independent mid-market private equity firm.
Headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, BLUESEA specializes in the three- to four-star hotel segment in Spain, operating a portfolio of 25 hotels with around 5,100 rooms. The hotels are located in popular tourist destinations, including the Balearic and Canary Islands, Costa Brava, Costa del Sol, and Madrid, and offer affordable all-inclusive holiday packages. Partners Group has thematic conviction in BLUESEA’s portfolio due to Spain’s enduring popularity as a holiday destination, the growth in affordable travel and related infrastructure, and increasing consumer purchasing power. More widely, the number of hotel rooms under construction is estimated to have fallen nearly 8.5% from a 2019 peak[1], with supply expected to remain muted for the next five years. This structural supply and demand imbalance should underpin strong revenue growth for asset owners and is a compelling long-term tailwind for the hospitality sector globally.
In line with its entrepreneurial governance approach, Partners Group will take a seat on BLUESEA’s board of directors. Alongside the management team and Portobello, Partners Group will oversee transformational value creation initiatives across BLUESEA’s portfolio, including the refurbishment of existing sites, the expansion of ancillary service offerings, operational efficiency improvements, and the acquisition of new hotels.
Geoffrey Bonnefoy-Cudraz, Member of Management, Real Estate, Partners Group, says: “BLUESEA’s established hotels are located across some of Spain’s most popular holiday destinations, with established operating track records and consistent occupancy levels. A key part of our value creation plan will be making strategic acquisitions to build BLUESEA’s platform, capitalizing on the highly fragmented three- to four-star hotel segment in Spain, which represents the majority of the country’s hospitality market.”
Partners Group continues to build out its global hospitality portfolio
The acquisition of BLUESEA demonstrates Partners Group’s intention to further increase its exposure to hospitality, which is a high conviction sector for the firm that is benefiting from multiple thematic tailwinds.
The hands-on ownership style required to be successful in the hospitality sector fits closely with Partners Group’s focus on transformational investing. In line with the increasing operational intensity of the sector, Partners Group has been looking to amplify its vertical depth through investments in specialist fund managers and operators. For example, earlier this year, Partners Group acquired a strategic stake in Trinity Investments, a leading US-based hospitality-focused real estate investor. Partners Group has since made three acquisitions with Trinity, including most recently when a joint partnership between Partners Group and Trinity, alongside funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, agreed to acquire The Standard, London, an iconic 266-key hotel in the Brutalist-style.
Partners Group’s hospitality portfolio also has assets in the US, France, and Australia, including the Ritz-Carlton Las Colinas, the only luxury golf resort in Dallas; CGH Residences, a hotel, chalet, and wellness resort brand in the Alps; and a portfolio of Accor and Ibis hotels across Sydney and other metropolitan areas in Australia.
Partners Group’s thematic research shows the hospitality sector is benefiting from tailwinds, including the resurgence of both domestic and international tourism, the recovery of business travel including multi-occasion stays blending work and leisure, growing consumer preference for experiences over physical goods, and the structural undersupply of rooms in primary markets due to the limited development of new hotels.
Stephen McCall, Managing Director, Head of Real Estate Platforms & OpCos, Partners Group, comments: “Hospitality is one of our global high-conviction strategies. The operationally intensive nature of the sector offers significant value creation potential and fits well with our focus on transformational investment. This approach requires an entrepreneurial mindset together with a deep understanding of brand, consumer behaviour, and local market dynamics. We have made it a priority to build vertical depth through our strategic operator relationships, local presence, and globally integrated platform and continue to look for investment opportunities across the segment.”
Partners Group's global real estate portfolio has a total GAV of USD 43 billion.
