The Challenge
477-room luxury hotel was deemed a non-core asset by Ivanhoé Cambridge, a global real estate investor with over $40 billion in assets. Ivanhoé Cambridge is owned by the Caisse de depot, one of the Canada’s largest pension funds. Because of the hotel’s iconic status both within the city of Victoria and Canada as a whole, our client was only willing to sell to a buyer who appreciated the hotel’s cultural value and had the means and desire to invest in its total restoration. “The Empress is one of the great hotels – truly a national treasure,” said Curtis Gallagher, Vice President of Hotel Investments for Cushman & Wakefield. “It was essential that we find a buyer who appreciated the hotel for what it truly is.”
The Solution
Cushman & Wakefield’s Curtis Gallagher had a longstanding relationship with the client, and understood that they wanted to sell the asset. Before beginning a formal dialogue with the client, he worked closely with his counterparts in the Vancouver and Victoria, Canada offices to conduct a global search to identify the best potential buyer. After this search was successfully completed, Cushman & Wakefield was awarded a mandate to sell the asset. This collaboration brought both hotel and local market expertise together in a way that achieved the best result for the client. Once Ivanhoé Cambridge agreed to move forward, Curtis worked to ensure that the buyer was focused on the asset profile and its ultimate upside, in addition to the immediate economic value of the transaction. This ensured both parties achieved their respective goals and came to an agreement.
