King Street prepares invitation-only tender and puts Venice Bauer on the market

It is a call for selected bids that the financial advisor Eastdil Secured is putting together on behalf of King Street in connection with a possible sale of the Bauer in Venice, a luxury hotel on the Grand Canal in the Sestiere San Marco district. The American group has owned 100 per cent of the hotel for a few weeks now - it was taken over by the Austrian group Signa, which is currently undergoing a profound financial restructuring due to its high level of debt - and has since received, according to rumours, a series of informal expressions of interest given the importance of the asset in the current market context, which registers the growing appeal of hospitality in Italy.

As an opportunistic and financial investor, and not a long-term owner, King Street would thus have decided to consider a possible exit through a tender.

The choice will then be based on the incoming bids. Following the tender, the group will choose whether to sell the asset or proceed with the renovation work and then sell the hotel at a later date. At present, the estimated value of the building is expected to be around EUR 300 million, to which must be added approximately EUR 150 million of investment to refurbish the hotel's 120 rooms and 20 neighbouring residences, as well as the important commercial area located at the base of the building.

The deal concerns one of the few iconic hotels in Venice, which are, in addition to the Bauer, the Danieli (owned by the Statuto group, which will soon become Four Seasons and of which King Street is a lender with a loan of around EUR 330 million), the Cipriani and the Gritti. Assets that rarely come onto the market.

The transaction could trace the deal struck in Rome, also by King Street, with the realisation of the W managed by the Marriott group. The investor bought two buildings in Via Liguria in 2017 and then built the hotel, converting it together with Omnan Group from the office it was, and selling it once completed for more than EUR 170 million. Buying in this case was a joint venture between CPP Investments (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) and Hamilton Pyramid Europe.