Nrep acquires central Oslo hotel from CBRE investment management

Real estate investor Nrep has acquired Comfort Hotel Karl Johan, a 260-room hotel in the heart of Oslo, from CBRE Investment Management. Featuring a bar in the backyard terrace and fitness room, the hotel is centrally located within a 2-minute walk from Oslo Central Station and is surrounded by many of the city’s best shops and restaurants.

CBRE Investment Management (CBRE IM) recently undertook a comprehensive refurbishment of the hotel and the commercial space. This included adding 79 rooms to the hotel, refurbishment of the retail and office space, and extending the structure over a courtyard, creating an additional 300 sq m of retail space. The acquisition is made via Nrep’s latest and largest vintage in the NSF value-add series, NSF V, to which the vast majority of the commitments to the fund came from existing investors. The fund was significantly oversubscribed and closed at €3.65bn, making it the largest European real estate value-add fund to date.

The fund is active across various segments and has this year, already invested almost NOK 3 billion in warehousing and logistics buildings in Norway, in addition to other major acquisitions.

Nrep already owns another Norwegian hotel asset, the Quality Hotel River Station, in Drammen, as well as central hotels in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki. This will be the fifth hotel in the portfolio. All hotels are operated by the Strawberry Hotels group, a company with a strong focus on sustainability, with locations across the Nordics.

Jens Petter Hagen, Head of Nrep in Norway and Fund Manager for NSF V, said: “The acquisition of Comfort Hotel Karl Johan is in line with our intention to identify attractive risk adjusted return investment opportunities as well as it is meeting our sustainability aspirations. It is an attractive and central property with good prospects for improving energy efficiency through our customer-oriented management.

“Common to all of Nrep’s hotel investments is the structural tailwind of a growing interest in the Nordic countries as tourist destinations. The central locations of the assets are attractive to both national and international visitors, including business travelers. We are continuously looking for good investments, and have plenty of capital available for the right opportunities.”

Jenny Tuleby, Head of Transactions & Investment Operations in the Nordics for CBRE Investment Management, added: This strategic sale follows the successful execution of our business plan, which led to 100% occupancy of the commercial space. With liquidity available for prime assets like Karl Johan Comfort Hotel, we are delighted with the successful conclusion of this sale.

CBRE and Bahr advised CBRE Investment Management in the divestment and Wikborg Rein and KWC acted as Nrep’s advisors.