Olan GroupThe company, owned by the Saudi-born billionaire Olayan family, closed the purchase Mandarin Oriental Hotel from Barcelona to their current owners, Andorran family Reig and the North American fund Farallon. Although the amount of the operation was not disclosed, several months ago several media outlets reported that the cost requested for the disposal of the property was around 240 million euros.
Sales rumors have been around for months or even years. In 2020, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Farallon purchased the Reig family’s debt of more than 450 million from CaixaBank. Subsequently, the hotel complex owners and creditors initiated the sale, but could not find a buyer who would go as far as to take them. In 2023, they reactivated the process coordinated directly from London, this time with better results, as reported by El Economista. Process would close at close to two million euros per roomsuch a Record in the Spanish hotel market. In Madrid, hotel complexes traded more than one million euros per stay, but never came close to two million.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is located in the center of the Catalan capital, at number 38-40 Passeig de Gràcia and opened in 2010. 120 rooms suit roomAccommodation-related services designed by renowned interior designer Patricia Urquiola, for example spa and the pool on the roof with a view of all Barcelona.
Consulting firm JLL advised Reig Capital. The company said in a statement, “investors showed great appetite for the asset despite the challenging market environment increasing capital” and “investors are aware that luxury hotels are increasingly becoming a corporate investment and changing consumer preferences are creating new investment opportunities”.
Olaya Group jumps to Barcelona
Eight years after Saudi family Olayan bought one of the capital’s emblems, it completed its first acquisition in Barcelona. Hotel Ritz Madrid. In 2015, the Mandarin and Middle East investment vehicle bought 50% of the complex, which was opened in 1910, for 130 million euros and left the chain to hotel management after Pharaoh reformed it.
This investment vehicle was founded by Saudi businessman Suliman S. Olayan, who started the business with a small fleet of trucks. He subsequently invested in food, insurance brokerage, paper mills and oil companies. Currently, his family invests some of his wealth in real estate: They own more than 40,000 homes and 3.7 million square feet of office and commercial assets internationally.according to corporate website Holding company. In addition to the Ritz in Madrid (and now Mandarin), they are the owners of the building, which is headquartered in New York at 550 on Madison Ave or eight buildings in central Paris.