Aareal Bank provides financing to L+ R Hotels

Mayfair Townhouse hotel in London financed

Wiesbaden, 24^{March 2021 - Aareal Bank has granted L + R Hotels a five-year loan, secured by the prestigious hotel "The Mayfair Townhouse". The funding is in the upper double-digit million GBP range. The 5-star luxury hotel with 172-rooms, formerly known as the Green Park Hotel and the Hilton Green Park, enjoys a prominent location in the heart of the affluent Mayfair district and is one of the rare freehold properties in central London.}

"The European hospitality industry is currently going through a challenging time. We stand by our clients also in these times and continue to finance selected projects", stated Christof Winkelmann, Member of the Management Board of Aareal Bank. "Confirmed by the rapid recovery that can currently be observed in China and the Far East, we remain confident of the long-term perspective for the industry as a whole. Accordingly, we are very glad to have been given the opportunity, to finance a prime asset in one of the best yielding hotel locations worldwide."

L + R Hotels has recently invested a substantial amount in the refurbishment of the premise, which was purchased back in 2004. The refurbishment and repositioning of the boutique hotel, which mainly caters to luxury business and leisure travelers, was completed at the end of 2020. The hotel will be operated under the "Iconic Luxury Hotels" brand of L+R, which comprises of eight 5-star luxury hotels and resorts spread across Europe and the United States. Leonard Sebastian, Group Managing & Legal Director of London + Regional Hotels, praises the cooperation with Aareal Bank: "I found the Aareal team a dream to work with. The transaction was seamless despite the myriad of challenges imposed by Covid-19 and otherwise. They oriented thru the complexities with such finesse. No stones left unturned."

Bettina Graef-Parker, Managing Director - Special Property Finance of Aareal Bank and with the hotel finance team responsible for the deal, added: "The Mayfair Townhouse is a unique gem, not only in the L + R portfolio, but also for the London property market. We are happy to add another chapter to the lasting business relationship with a group that shows an impressive history of creating value within the hospitality sector."

Aareal Bank was advised by Pinsent Masons on legal matters, Cushman & Wakefield provided commercial and technical due diligence for the transaction.

Additional photographs for editorial use can be downloaded here.

Contacts:
Christian Feldbrügge
Phone: +49 611 348 2280
christian.feldbruegge@aareal-bank.com

René Hartmann
Phone: +49 611 348 3438
renepascal.hartmann@aareal-bank.com

L + R Hotels
L+R Hotels is part of the privately owned London + Regional Properties Limited (L+R) group of companies. Established in 1987, L+R became one of the largest privately held property companies in Europe. The company is engaged in the investment and development of real estate properties in the UK and abroad. L+R holds assets worth several billion of international real estate investments, including an extensive hotel portfolio consisting of 90 premises with 17,500 rooms, spread over the UK, Continental Europe, the United States, Panama, Africa and the Caribbean. The company is active in nearly all stages of the value chain, ranging from acquisition and development, design, construction to asset management of the hotel portfolio. Aareal Bank has a long-standing business relationship with the group.

Aareal Bank Group
Aareal Bank Group, headquartered in Wiesbaden, is a leading international property specialist. It provides smart financings, software products, and digital solutions for the property sector and related industries, and is present across three continents: Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific. Aareal Bank AG, whose shares are included in Deutsche Börse's SDAX index, is the Group's parent entity. It manages the various entities organised in the Group's three business segments: Structured Property Financing, Banking & Digital Solutions, and Aareon. The Structured Property Financing segment encompasses all of Aareal Bank Group's property financing and funding activities. Here, the Bank supports its clients in making large-volume commercial property investments. The investment properties mostly comprise office buildings, hotels, shopping centres, logistics and residential property, as well as student apartments. In the Banking & Digital Solutions segment, Aareal Bank Group supports businesses from the housing, property management and energy industries as a digitalisation partner - combining extensive advisory services and product solutions with traditional corporate banking services and deposit-taking. Subsidiary Aareon, a leading consultancy and IT systems house for the European property industry and its partners in the digital age, forms the third business segment. Aareon offers reliable, pioneering solutions in the fields of consulting, software and services to optimise IT-supported business processes, and to extend business models. The Aareon Smart World digital platform links businesses from the housing industry and related sectors with customers, staff and business partners, as well as connecting technical devices in apartments and buildings.