CDL acquires 256-room Osaka hotel for $78.5 mil

This is CDL's third hotel acquisition in 2023.

City Developments Limited (CDL) C09 has acquired the Bespoke Hotel Osaka Shinsaibashi for 8.5 billion yen ($78.5 million). The acquisition was made via CDL’s its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, M&C Sakura TMK, and is CDL’s third hotel acquisition in 2023. The group acquired the Sofitel Brisbane Central in Australia in March and the Nine Tree Premier Hotel Myeongdong II in South Korea in July

The 256-room freehold lifestyle Bespoke Hotel was opened in 2019 and is located in Osaka’s Shinsaibashi commercial district. It is within walking distance to several popular shopping districts and malls including the city’s famous Midosuji Avenue and Shinsaibashi-suji shopping street. The Nagahoribashi and Shinsabashi stations are also just a four-minute and six-minute walk respectively.

According to CDL, the hotel is well-placed to benefit from the recovery of tourism in Japan. Specifically, tourism in Osaka is expected to strengthen in the coming years.

Already home to Universal Studios Japan, which is the world’s third-most visited theme park in 2022 with 12.4 million visitors, Osaka will also host the six-month long World Expo in 2025, which is estimated to attract 30 million visitors.

In addition, the US$10 billion ($13.5 billion) MGM Integrated Resort is slated to open in Osaka in 2030. The resort, which offers a casino, entertainment, shopping, hotel and MICE (or meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) facilities, is projected to welcome 20 million visitors a year upon its opening.

“Japan’s tourism industry has rebounded strongly post-pandemic, and we saw this as a great opportunity to expand our hotel portfolio. Our group owns the 329-room Millennium Mitsui Garden Hotel in Tokyo Ginza as well as other rental apartment assets in Yokohama and Osaka. This investment is aligned with our group’s strategy to actively grow and diversify our global real estate portfolio,” says Kwek Leng Beng, CDL’s executive chairman.

As at 4.58pm, shares in CDL are trading 3 cents lower or 0.45% down at $6.69.

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