Malaysia’s IOI Properties Boosts Hotel Portfolio with $35M Buy of Penang Marriott

IOI Properties Group continues to boost its hospitality holdings with the Malaysia developer agreeing to purchase a 199-key hotel in Penang from local developer Tropicana Corp for RM 165 million ($35 million).

IOI on Friday signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire the Courtyard by Marriott Penang from Tropicana at a price equivalent to RM 829,145 ($175,200) per room of the 22-storey hotel, according to an announcement by the seller that same day.

With IOI set to open a 350-room W hotel in its $1.9-billion Marina View project in Singapore in 2028, the company is adding Courtyard Penang to its portfolio of five existing hotels, including the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach in downtown Singapore, the 249-unit Four Points by Sheraton Puchong in Kuala Lumpur and two additional properties in Malaysia’s Putrajaya administrative centre.

Property investors have been ramping up their exposure to Asia Pacific’s hospitality sector over the past year, with hotel transactions across the region surging 65 percent year-on-year to $3.3 billion in the last three months of 2023, according to a recent report by JLL.

Three-Year-Old Asset at 11% Off

Should the asset change hands at the agreed price, IOI will secure Courtyard Penang at an 11 percent discount from the hotel’s RM 184.6 million book value as of end-2022 as stated in Tropicana’s 2022 annual report.

Opened in 2020 in Penang’s colonial-era centre of George Town, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as Malaysia’s first-ever Courtyard-branded hotel, the property has views of the Straits of Malacca and the city.

Tropicana said the asset along Jalan Macalister enjoyed high occupancy throughout 2023 with the Bursa Malaysia-listed developer indicating that it will use the RM 80.8 million in proceeds from the sale to pare down debt and improve its financial position.

For IOI, acquiring Courtyard Penang comes after the group appointed Marriott International last month to operate the hotel component of its 51-storey Marina View mixed-use development project, which the company is developing on a site it acquired in 2021 for S$1.508 billion (then $1.1 billion).

With the hotel, along with the project’s 683-unit Marina View Residences condo component, scheduled to open in late 2028, Lee Yeow Seng, group chief executive officer of IOI Properties, said in December that securing the W Hotel brand for its Marina View hotel aligns with the firm’s strategy to ride the growing demand for luxury accommodation in the Lion City.

Lee and his brother Lee Yeow Chor, who runs the clan’s palm oil business, ranked as Malaysia’s sixth wealthiest individuals last year, according to Forbes’ latest rich list.

Hotels Stay Hot

Despite the jump in trades of Asia Pacific hotels in the fourth quarter, figures for the full year of 2023 still fell 16 percent to $9.8 billion from the nearly $12 billion in deals during 2022, JLL data showed.

The property agency said the high-interest rate environment and sticky inflation may have tempered investment in the sector last year, but pointed to strong interest among buyers for hotels in Japan, China and Australia.

Japan emerged as the region’s top investment target for hospitality investors in the fourth quarter, accounting for 73 percent of all hotel transactions during the period.

Among the deals inked in the final months of 2023 was Kasumigaseki Capital’s November sale of the 75-key SH by the Square Hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi to an unnamed buyer advised by Singapore-based Anglo Fortune Capital Group.

In December, Singapore-listed CapitaLand Ascott Trust announced its divestment of three hotels in Osaka to a fund managed by Alyssa Partners for JPY 10.7 billion (then $75 million).

Hotel trades have continued this year with a 50:50 joint venture between Capitaland’s Ascott Ltd and a fund managed by the Temasek Holdings-backed giant completing their S$240 million purchase of the Hotel G near Singapore’s Bugis area from Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners earlier this month.

“With continued global macroeconomic uncertainties and ongoing political tensions, hotel investment volume in Asia Pacific is expected to reach $10.4 billion in 2024, with Japan topping the podium,” JLL said in the report.