Netherlands-based PPHE Hotel Group has bought out the remaining 50-percent stake in London hotel joint venture Aspirations from long-time partner Aldersgate Investments. The £35-million deal is slated for completion in March 2018.
PPHE will fund the acquisition of the JV, which owns the site near Old Street, Rivington Street, Great Eastern Street and Bath Place in East London Hackney, using its current cash resources. PPHE and Aldersgate Investments entered the JV in 2008 through investing £11 million in half of the company.
Aspiration has set plans to develop the site into the Art’otel London Hoxton—the newest member of PPHE’s Art’otel brand. "The acquisition will enable the company to control the timetable for construction and hence construction of a mixed-use scheme consisting of the 318-room Art'otel London Hoxton, office and commercial space and ancillaries are now expected to commence in the second quarter of this year," PPHE told London South East.
Boris Ivesha, CEO of PPHE, added that construction on the upcoming Art’otel is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2018. The hotel will join the Art’otel London Battersea Power Station, which is currently under construction and opening in 2019, in expanding the brand’s portfolio. The Art’otel brand has another six properties in Europe with four in Germany, one in Budapest and one in the Netherlands.
PPHE’s portfolio has 39 owned, leased, managed and franchised hotels with more than 9,000 guestrooms across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. These operate under PPHE’s brands Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Art’otel. The group also owns a stake in Arena Hospitality Group to lead and expand its presence in Croatia through the Arenaturist Hotels & Resorts and Arena Campsites brands. Its hotel development pipeline has two projects planned to open in the end of 2021. Shares in PPHE jumped 1.4 percent after the announcement of the hotel JV buy.