in Asia Pacific was known to take over the Thailand-based hotel management company to enter the Southeast Asia region .
Mandeep Lamba , HVS , India : Due to the rapid recovery in India ’ s domestic leisure demand , interest in acquiring assets in leisure markets has surged , especially as supply remains restricted in this segment . Investors are likely to prefer operational assets or portfolio of assets to expand their footprint rather than greenfield or brownfield projects . Also , value deals where the lender and owner have both taken haircuts are the most likely to find buyers .
Koji Takabayashi , Horwath Japan : We have seen several large-scale portfolio transactions for the past couple of years , such as Kintetsu portfolio acquired by Blackstone and Japan Post portfolio acquired by Fortress . In addition , Seibu Holdings is now considering a sale of a part of their Prince Hotels portfolio . As the main business of these owners is not hospitality ( such as railways ), they are now selling their non-core assets to off-set COVID-influenced ( negative ) cash flows from their main businesses .
WHAT ARE THE ONGOING BARRIERS TO DEAL MAKING , AND HOW LIKELY ARE THEY TO BE OVERCOME ?
Robert Hecker , Horwath HTL , Singapore : The price gap between buyers and sellers . I don ’ t think availability of financing is considered to be a barrier . Evident improving market conditions could encourage buyers to value / offer higher . Creative deal structuring could also help , such as partnering rather than outright purchases , so sellers assume some risk , but have the opportunity to participate in cash flow / valuation upsides .
Hok Yean Chee , HVS : In fall 2021 , there seemed to be some gaps between asking and offer prices that may have caused the transaction volume to be muted . Many investors believed that with the onset of the pandemic , there would be a slew of distressed assets primed for
I DON ’ T THINK AVAILABILITY OF FINANCING IS CONSIDERED TO BE A BARRIER . EVIDENT IMPROVING MARKET CONDITIONS COULD ENCOURAGE BUYERS TO VALUE / OFFER HIGHER . CREATIVE DEAL STRUCTURING COULD ALSO HELP , SUCH AS PARTNERING RATHER THAN OUTRIGHT PURCHASES , SO SELLERS ASSUME SOME RISK , BUT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN CASH FLOW / VALUATION UPSIDES .
– ROBERT HECKER
investment . However , there have not been any distressed sales in Asia Pacific .
In countries such as Australia and Singapore , the government issued vouchers to shore up the hospitality industry to boost occupancy and leisure-related activities . On top of that , most hotels proved to be adaptable in converting their rooms to quarantine facilities . We believe that the hungry investor expectation of much lower prices was not met . There is also an abundance of caution in making deals as the
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