Singapore’s CDL Completes $261M Purchase of Paris Hotel From Blackstone

City Developments Ltd has completed its acquisition of a Paris hotel from funds managed by Blackstone for €240 million ($260.9 million), giving the Singaporean property giant a centrally located lodging asset just in time for the Olympic Games this summer.

CDL picked up the 268-room, five-storey Hilton Paris Opera through its Millennium & Copthorne Hotels division, the SGX-listed developer said Tuesday in a release.

The €240 million purchase price is roughly in line with Mingtiandi’s reporting from early March, with the consideration equating to €13,087 ($14,225) per square metre and €895,522 ($973,383) per key. CDL now has three hotels with 670 rooms in the French capital, including the 163-room M Social Hotel Paris Opera and the 239-room Millennium Hotel Paris Charles de Gaulle.

“This acquisition provides us with the rare opportunity to enhance our hospitality portfolio with a trophy asset, expand our presence in a key gateway city in Europe ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics and bolster our recurring income with potential for value-add,” said CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng.

Euro Vision

The transaction marks CDL’s third major acquisition of a European real estate asset from a Blackstone fund in the past several years, with the Singaporean firm having last year picked up the St Katharine Docks complex in London from funds managed by the New York titan for £395 million (then $468.2 million).

Blackstone had acquired what was then the Concorde Opera at 108 Rue Saint-Lazare in 2013 for €153 million on behalf of its fourth European opportunistic real estate fund, which launched that same year.

The 1889-era building in the 8th arrondissement underwent a €43.4 million renovation before reopening in 2015.

The Hilton Paris Opera is within a short walk of attractions including the Opera Garnier and about a 10-minute train ride from La Defense business district. In 2023, the hotel achieved the BREEAM In-Use Very Good certification for sustainable building performance, CDL said.

Hot for Hospitality

The Paris deal comes after CDL acquired three overseas hotels last year, including picking up the 416-key Sofitel Brisbane Central from Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management in March for A$177.7 million (then $119 million). The company purchased a Seoul hotel for $110 million in July and added an Osaka property in August for $58 million.

CDL’s revenue climbed 50 percent in 2023 to reach an all-time high of S$4.9 billion ($3.6 billion), thanks in part to additional income generated by its overseas acquisitions, including the St Katharine Docks transaction.

That central London buy came about five years after CDL had acquired 125 Old Broad Street, formerly home to the city’s stock exchange, from Blackstone for £385 million (then $494 million).