SINGAPORE - Singapore's Royal Group has entered into an agreement to sell one of its prized assets, the luxury InterContinental Sydney Double Bay, to Zobon Real Estate Group Co and Shanghai United Real Estate for A$140 million (S$144.2 million).
It is the fifth Sydney acquisition in two years by private equity firm Shanghai United, which is backed by 10 mainland Chinese developers including Zobon.
The price is believed to be a record for a non-central business district (CBD) hotel in Australia, said Mr Peter Wilding, managing director for the Royal Group. The group paid about A$60 million for the vacant property in 2013, according to the Australian Financial Review, which added that this was the first five-star Sydney hotel sale in two years.
"The sale of this asset followed our strategy of recycling capital following the initial stabilisation period," said Mr Wilding.
The sales process that commenced in February 2017 was led by Craig Collins, JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group, and Richard Abbott, Holman Fenwick Willan.
InterContinental Hotels Group will continue to manage the hotel, which remains open for business as usual.
The luxury hotel sprawls over 3,670 sq m in the harbourside precinct of Double Bay. It originally opened as a Ritz Carlton Hotel in 1991 and was subsequently rebranded as the Sir Stamford Double Bay in 2001. After its closure in 2009, the hotel was extensively refurbished and renovated and reopened in November 2014 as the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay.
