Ong Beng Seng’s HPL Enters New Zealand With $102M InterContinental Auckland Buy

Hotel Properties Ltd has agreed to buy the InterContinental Auckland for NZ$180 million ($102.2 million), marking the Singapore-based group’s first acquisition in New Zealand.

The off-market deal represents the largest-ever sale of a single hotel asset in New Zealand, according to broker JLL, which advised local seller Precinct Properties on the transaction. The 139-key InterContinental Auckland occupies levels 6 to 11 of the 21-storey Deloitte Centre commercial building in the city’s central business district, with the target asset also including two and a half floors of fully leased office space from levels 3 to 5.

The waterfront hotel opened one year ago and will support HPL’s strategy to expand its luxury hospitality portfolio across key Asia Pacific markets, the group controlled by billionaire property tycoon Ong Beng Seng said Tuesday in a release.

“With ample headroom to expand to 196 rooms by repurposing the current office space if needed, we are also strategically positioned to meet future demand,” said Stephen Lau, chairman of HPL Hotels and Resorts, the group’s hospitality management arm.

Bet on Tourism Growth

HPL is picking up the hotel overlooking Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour at a price equal to nearly NZ$1.3 million ($740,000) per key, with the buy adding a second InterContinental property to the group’s portfolio alongside an 81-key Maldives resort.

HPL linked the deal to growing tourism in New Zealand’s largest city, with international arrivals having jumped 13.9 percent to 2.2 million in the 12 months to the end of October. The national government has promoted Auckland as a destination for leisure, adventure and business travellers, the group said, and the ongoing Waitemata Harbour Connections project is expected to create more transport options in the area.

NZX-listed Precinct Properties owns, develops and manages real estate in New Zealand’s two largest cities of Auckland and Wellington. Led by CEO Scott Pritchard, Precinct acquired the property formerly known as HSBC House in 2013 for NZ$103 million and is set to retain control of the non-hotel sections of Deloitte Centre — including 14,000 square metres (150,695 square feet) of office space across levels 12 to 20 — upon completion of the deal.

HPL’s latest trade comes as Asia-based capital has been “extremely active” in the Oceania hotel space, with New Zealand attracting investors looking to diversify into non-traditional markets, said Nihat Ercan, APAC CEO of JLL’s hotels and hospitality group.

“The success of this transaction rests on our ability to harness the strength of our Asia Pacific platform, facilitating capital from Singapore to highly desirable locations including both New Zealand and Australia,” Ercan said.

Weathering the Storm

SGX-listed HPL has interests in 41 hotels worldwide and most recently opened the Four Seasons Hotel Osaka and The Boathouse Tioman in Malaysia last year. Managing director Ong Beng Seng holds a 60.45 percent stake in the group, up from 60.22 percent, after buying more HPL shares on Tuesday.

Despite hurdles including a cancer diagnosis and criminal charges of corruption and obstruction of justice, Ong has continued to oversee dealmaking at home, with HPL in November having acquired the Concorde hotel and mall complex on Singapore’s Orchard Road for S$821 million ($618.7 million) in the city-state’s biggest collective sale of 2024.

In August 2023, HPL secured provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority to transform a set of Orchard Road buildings into a mixed-use project with hotel, retail, office and residential components.

The URA made its decision less than five months before then-Transport Minister S Iswaran was slapped with 27 charges in a Singapore court, including two counts of corruption related to helping Ong secure agreements for one of his companies with the country’s tourism board.

Last October, Ong was handed one charge of abetting obstruction of justice and one charge of abetting corruption offences. The tycoon is out on bail and intends to plead guilty to the obstruction charge and give his consent to having the corruption charge be taken into consideration for sentencing, HPL said last week.