Catalan investor Alantra Group's investment and management arm Alantra REIM has acquired the Hotel Denia La Sella Golf Resort & Spa in Spain.
Asset manager GAT Tourism Asset Management Group will operate the hotel in Alicante under a lease. GAT also operates the Gran Hotel Durango, Hotel Guadalmina, Holiday Inn Madrid and Intercontinental Mar Menor.
GAT proposed to renovate the hotel next winter and choose a new franchise at the end of 2018. The property originally opened as a Marriott hotel in 2003 near the center of Denia with 178 guestrooms and suites. The site, which includes a three-floor central block and a two-floor secondary building, was valued at €22.9 million, and the Tax Agency auctioned of the hotel in October 2015 for €3 million with a deposit for bids set at €732,666.32. The auction was ultimately dropped, although several foreign and domestic investors showed interest in the resort. The resort stopped operating as the Marriott La Sella once the franchise agreement ended in 2016.
La Sella Group will continue to manage the hotel's golf course along with other resort services. International hotel real estate consultancy Christies & Co. advised La Sella on the sale. The group also plans to develop a soccer field next to the hotel to meet the sport tour operator demands during the winter.
Alantra recently acquired London-based Catalyst for £30 million prior to buying the hotel in Spain. Catalyst partners will continue leading the unit, 15 of which will own shares of the group. The move will help to expand Alantra’s footprint in Europe.