Aligned FM buys Aria Hotel in Canberra for $35m
Sydney fund manager Aligned FM has paid $35 million to buy Canberra’s Aria Hotel from local operator Capital Hotel Group.
The deal for the 128-room apartment-style hotel is the second hotel deal in the nation’s capital in less than a month after Hong Kong boutique chain Ovolo acquired the rights to manage the 68-room Hotel Hotel owned by the Molonglo Group.
The Aria Hotel at 45 Dooring Street, Dickson was sold with vacant possession and will be rebranded in March as an Adina hotel, part of the TFE Hotels group.
Capital Hotel Group, owned by Ivan and Veronica Krizaic, operates Canberra’s Avenue Hotel and the Pavilion on Northbourne hotel as well as restaurants like Marble & Grain and Atrium Restaurant and Bar.
Aligned FM, led by former Eureka fund manager Glen Boultwood, has acquired a number of hotels on behalf of institutional and high net worth investors since being established in 2014 with a $250 mandate to invest in hotels and retail assets.
Its portfolio includes the TRYP by Wyndham hotel in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley and the 225-room ibis Melbourne Swanston Street hotel in Carlton. The Aria Hotel is its first investment in Canberra plus properties in Sydney and Perth.
“The acquisition of the Aria Canberra provides further diversification to our existing portfolio, access to a market with strong trading performance and the ownership of a well built and maintained property,” Mr Boultwood said.
“Over the past 18 months Aligned FM has exchanged contracts on four properties worth around $100 million including the Aria Canberra, Quest Nowra, Quest Penrith and one other. Upon completion of these assets the portfolio will grow from 940 rooms to 1,261 rooms,” he said.
The sale of the Aria hotel was negotiated by CBRE Hotels’ Andrew Jackson.
“The surprising stand out performer for the 2017 has been the Canberra hotel market, which has managed to absorb the wave of new supply it experienced over the last couple of years,” said CBRE Research Manager Ben Martin-Henry.
“Stable supply and strong increases in tourism in 2017 gave operators the confidence to raise room rates without fear of occupancy falls,” he said.
