Sale of Astir Palace to Apollo Investment finally completed

The sale of the Astir Palace Resort by National Bank of Greece and state sell-off fund TAIPED to Arab-Turk consortium Apollo Investment HoldCo – a subsidiary of Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund IV LP – was completed on Thursday with the payment of the agreed price.

The new owner of the complex at Vouliagmeni, southern Athens, paid out the amount of 393.1 million euros and acquired 88.5 percent of the shares of Astir Palace Vouliagmenis AXE.

National transferred through the stock market three packages corresponding to 67.2 percent of the Astir shares and collected 298.8 million euros. The TAIPED stake of 21.2 percent was transferred outside the bourse system for 94.3 million euros.

The completion of the tender for the sale of the resort in southern Attica was ratified yesterday with the signing of the agreement at National Bank headquarters in the presence of National’s president Louka Katseli, chief executive officer Leonidas Fragkiadakis, Astir Palace CEO Polychronis Griveas, TAIPED president Stergios Pitsiorlas and the CEO of AGC Equity Partners (stakeholder of Jermyn Street), Walid Abu-Suud.

Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund IV LP is owned by the state investment arms of Kuwait and Abu Dhabi (25 percent each), Turkey’s Dogus Group (33 percent), and other foreign companies.

The resort’s accommodation facilities are scheduled to remain open until November 20. After that the preliminary work for their modernization will gradually get under way. However, the complex will continue to offer its services at its marina, beach etc.

Katseli stated that the sale of National’s stake was determined by the lender’s decision to disengage from business activities that are not related to the broader credit sector.

TAIPED’s Pitsiorlas stressed that besides being a significant investment deal, the successful outcome in the process for the sale of Astir Palace serves to illustrate that the constructive and productive cooperation of the public and private sectors can pave the way for the recovery of the country.