Thomas Cook secures €51M in funding for Med hotels

Thomas Cook Hotel Investments, the joint venture between LMEY Investments and Thomas Cook Group PLC, has secured €51 million in its second round of debt funding from Spain's CaixaBank. This follows €40 million in funding from Piraeus Bank, for a total of €91 million.

The company reportedly plans use the money to invest in development throughout Spain and around the Mediterranean. TCHI also agreed to acquire a 250-room hotel in the Canary Islands, as well as another 300-room hotel in the Balearics. The seven hotels in the fund now take the total asset value to around €250 million and 2,200 rooms.

The fund aims to have between 10 and 15 hotels within the next two years. Additional hotel acquisitions have been identified and the team is focused on executing an expansion plan over the coming year, according to the company.

“This new round of funding is a big step forward for TCHI, providing us with support to accelerate our acquisition program in our biggest holiday destination,” said Enric Noguer, chief of Thomas Cook Hotels & Resorts, noting the fund’s flagship hotel, Casa Cook Ibiza, is set to open this summer.

TCHI was established last March to support the growth of Thomas Cook’s own-brand hotel portfolio as part of the company’s strategy of achieving greater control over its hotel inventory. The hotel fund aims to acquire underperforming, distressed and underinvested hotels in Thomas Cook’s core destinations and transform them into proprietary-brand hotels.