By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE, Australia--A unit of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL)
has agreed to sell Sofitel Wentworth, the five-star Sydney hotel
where finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20
largest nations met earlier this year.
The hotel is being bought by Singapore's Frasers Centrepoint
Ltd. (TQ5.SG), which this month bid 2.59 billion Australian dollars
(US$2.43 billion) for Australian property company Australand
Property Group., trumping an earlier offer from Stockland
(SGP.AU).
The hotel, located in the heart of Sydney's central business
district, has 436 rooms and 45 luxury suites.
LaSalle Investment Management didn't disclose the sale price in
a statement Monday. The real estate investment manager, which has
US$4.8 billion of assets under management in the Asia-Pacific
region, bought the hotel in 2010 for A$130 million for its LaSalle
Asia Opportunity Fund III.
"The divestment of Sofitel Wentworth comes at a time when hotels
in Sydney boast some of the most attractive market fundamentals in
the region, thanks to increasing inbound tourism and ongoing
corporate demand," said Marc Montanus, a fund manager at
LaSalle.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
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