Nakheel Hotels wins top accolade from industry peers
Nakheel Hotels has won the ‘Single Asset Deal of the Year’ at the inaugural Hotel Report Awards in London. The hotels development and investment arm of Nakheel was awarded the top prize for its acquisition of the leading New York City luxury hotel, the Mandarin Oriental.
The Mandarin Oriental is a 5 star rating recipient of the prestigious Mobil Five-Star award for 2007. The hotel is an exclusive development located on floors 35 to 54 of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle over looking Central Park in New York City. Nakheel Hotels (at the time called Istithmar Hotels) completed the purchase of a stake in the hotel in March of 2007 after announcing the sale in December 2006. The hotel was valued at $340m for the purposes of the transaction, and Nakheel Hotels purchased 73% of the property, buying 25% from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and 48% from a joint venture between Apollo Real Estate and Related. Related was also the developer of the hotel.
The Hotel Report Awards recognizes significant achievements in the hospitality industry. The nominations in nine competitive categories came from an academy of 200 industry members, with wider voting to decide the winners. In total over 1,000 people voted, truly reflecting the choice of the sector.
Joe Sita, Nakheel Hotels CEO, said:
“It is a great honour to be recognized with this award as it comes from our peers. The acquisition of a majority stake in the Mandarin Oriental hotel marked an important step forward for Nakheel Hotels in developing our portfolio of outstanding luxury hotels in major global centers.”
Mr. Sita added:
“The Mandarin Oriental is a truly exceptional property in the heart of New York City. And since its purchase it has outperformed our expectations. Nakheel Hotels is delighted to receive accolades for this deal.”
Nakheel Hotels was launched in November 2007 as the new name for Istithmar Hotels after Dubai World consolidated its hotel business under one banner to create a fully integrated hotel investment company. The hotels business was originally formed in April 2006 as the hotel investment and asset management business of Istithmar and has, in less than 2 years, accumulated a global hotel property portfolio. The enterprise value of investments to date is in excess of $3 billion.
