By Kim Jae-won
Mirae Asset Global Investments clinched a deal earlier this month to buy Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa for $780 million from U.S. asset manager Blackstone Group, sources familiar with the deal said Wednesday.
The Seoul-based asset manager reached an agreement to acquire leasehold interest in the 1,230-room twin-tower hotel on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu, according to industry sources close to the matter. Mirae Asset is paying about $634,000 per room, one of the most expensive deals on a per-room-key basis.
The deal came a year after Mirae Asset bought the 540-room Fairmont Orchid Hotel on the island of Hawaii for $220 million. If the deal is successful, Hyatt Regency Waikiki will be the seventh hotel invested in by Mirae Asset since it acquired Sydney's Four Seasons Hotel for 340 million Australian dollars in 2013.
Sources said that Mirae Asset plans to pay $380 million through its affiliates and fund investors while drawing the remaining $400 million from bank loans. The asset manger believes that the 40-story hotel will pay off, considering its luxury spa facilities and easy access to shopping malls and the airport. Hyatt Group will continue to manage the hotel even after the deal is closed.
Market watchers say that Mirae has increased its investments in luxury hotels, anticipating demand by Chinese tourists for top-class accommodations. Observers say that businesses catering to Chinese tourists have potential to grow as only 4 percent of the country's population, or some 60 million people, has passports.
If the level goes up to that of advanced countries, about 20 percent, the value of luxury hotels will increase too, they estimate. According to the China Daily, the nation's English newspaper, the number of overseas trips by Chinese tourists is estimated to increase to 200 million in 2020, up from 120 million in 2015.
Hyatt Regency Waikiki was built in 1976 for $100 million by celebrated developer Christopher Hemmeter, introducing the concept of the opulent mega-resort in Hawaii.
Mirae Asset is a financial services firm based in Seoul, whose business portfolio ranges from asset management to brokerage to life insurance. It was founded by chairman Park Hyeon-joo in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.
Since then, the firm's funds have gained a reputation for big returns for investors, drawing tens of trillions of won in investments. Earlier this year, the firm bought Daewoo Securities from the Korea Development Bank, seeking to merge it with its own brokerage house.
Mirae Asset Global Investments clinched a deal earlier this month to buy Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa for $780 million from U.S. asset manager Blackstone Group, sources familiar with the deal said Wednesday.
The Seoul-based asset manager reached an agreement to acquire leasehold interest in the 1,230-room twin-tower hotel on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu, according to industry sources close to the matter. Mirae Asset is paying about $634,000 per room, one of the most expensive deals on a per-room-key basis.
The deal came a year after Mirae Asset bought the 540-room Fairmont Orchid Hotel on the island of Hawaii for $220 million. If the deal is successful, Hyatt Regency Waikiki will be the seventh hotel invested in by Mirae Asset since it acquired Sydney's Four Seasons Hotel for 340 million Australian dollars in 2013.
Sources said that Mirae Asset plans to pay $380 million through its affiliates and fund investors while drawing the remaining $400 million from bank loans. The asset manger believes that the 40-story hotel will pay off, considering its luxury spa facilities and easy access to shopping malls and the airport. Hyatt Group will continue to manage the hotel even after the deal is closed.
Market watchers say that Mirae has increased its investments in luxury hotels, anticipating demand by Chinese tourists for top-class accommodations. Observers say that businesses catering to Chinese tourists have potential to grow as only 4 percent of the country's population, or some 60 million people, has passports.
If the level goes up to that of advanced countries, about 20 percent, the value of luxury hotels will increase too, they estimate. According to the China Daily, the nation's English newspaper, the number of overseas trips by Chinese tourists is estimated to increase to 200 million in 2020, up from 120 million in 2015.
Hyatt Regency Waikiki was built in 1976 for $100 million by celebrated developer Christopher Hemmeter, introducing the concept of the opulent mega-resort in Hawaii.
Mirae Asset is a financial services firm based in Seoul, whose business portfolio ranges from asset management to brokerage to life insurance. It was founded by chairman Park Hyeon-joo in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.
Since then, the firm's funds have gained a reputation for big returns for investors, drawing tens of trillions of won in investments. Earlier this year, the firm bought Daewoo Securities from the Korea Development Bank, seeking to merge it with its own brokerage house.
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