Walton Street Capital and Merrill Lynch Acquire Prague Marriott Hotel and Office Complex via Transac
LONDON, UK, July 28, 2005. Molinaro Koger announced today their role as advisor to IDAG of Austria, a European investment fund, in the sale of the 293-room Prague Marriott Hotel and BH Centrum Office and Retail Complex, to Walton Street Capital, a Chicago-based real estate investment company, and Merrill Lynch, a leading global investment bank. This transaction represents one of the most significant sales of hotel real estate in Eastern Europe.
"This complex transaction, involving a luxury property and upscale office and retail space in one of Europe's most rapidly growing capital cities, represents the culmination of more than 12 months of work on the part of all principal parties," said Eric Kudlak, Molinaro Koger's Managing Director of Europe, who structured the transaction.
"This successful outcome is advantageous to both IDAG, Walton Street and Merrill Lynch, as it provides each company with a highly desired result. We are extremely pleased to have facilitated the sale," said Rob Koger, President of Molinaro Koger.
"We are highly enthusiastic about the potential which ownership of the Prague Marriott and associated office and retail space provides," said Justin Leonard, Principal of Walton Street Capital. "We value Molinaro Koger's expertise in sourcing opportunity in European hotels and are confident in our ability to capitalize upon these opportunities."
"We are very excited with the investment opportunity and our partnership with Walton Street Capital, and were very impressed with the Molinaro Koger team," said Brian Newman, Managing Director of Global Principal Investments for Merrill Lynch, "Franz Peter Orasch, Watter Brochmann, and the rest of the executives at IDAG and the developers at STRABAG were very professional and a pleasure to deal with."
"This investment fits nicely into our overall European investment strategy," said Roger Barris, who runs Merrill Lynch's principal investment activities in Europe, as Managing Director of Global Principal Investments EMEA. Mr. Barris is actively seeking other real estate investment opportunities throughout the region ranging from office, hotel, retail and multifamily assets to portfolios of non-performing loans.
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