Pramerica and Paris Inn Group Form 60MEUR Joint Venture to Invest in Paris Hotels

    PARIS, FRANCE, December 01, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Pramerica Real Estate Investors ("Pramerica") and Paris Inn Group have formed a new joint venture company to invest in Paris hotels and have acquired JV's two first properties for more than EUR30 million. The new Luxembourg based Joint Venture, Capital Inn SARL, has a total investment capacity of around EUR60M. Pramerica is the European arm of the real estate investment and management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU), which is headquartered in the United States.

The Paris hotel sector offers strong fundamentals and good potential to grow values. Recognising the widening gap between a supply-constrained, ageing hotel stock and clients' increasing desire for higher-end products, the Joint Venture will target central and western Paris hotels that have the potential to meet this growing demand. The value creation strategy for each hotel involves improving operating performance through Paris Inn Group's asset management expertise, coupled with selected refurbishment, which, in some cases, will lead to an upgrade in the hotel's star rating. The initial portfolio includes two 3-star and 4-star hotels located in Paris and comprising more than 150 rooms. Pramerica's London-based Merchant Banking Group structured the investment on behalf of institutional investors in its PRECO IV fund.

"Due to consumer demand for modern product outstripping supply at present, the Paris hotel sector is one that we have identified as offering strong value potential. I am very pleased to be working on this investment with the well regarded and experienced teams of Paris Inn Group," said Philip Barrett, Managing Director of Pramerica. "We have a proven track record of investing successfully through Joint Ventures with local specialists across Europe. I am confident that this venture will be another excellent example of how this strategy can be applied to generate risk adjusted returns for our investors."

Paris Inn Group is an asset manager and investment advisor specialised in the independent hotel sector. Well established in Paris since 1923, as at 1 November 2011 the Paris Inn Group managed 27 three or four stars hotels through its commercial brand Book Inn France. Jean Bernard Falco, President of Paris Inn Group, added: "It is an honour for Paris Inn Group to be associated to the reputation, expertise and financial strength of Pramerica. Thanks to our respective knowledge and experience, this association will help us complete several high potential hotel projects linked to the dynamism of the greater Paris and generate value for our investors."

About Paris Inn Group
Paris Inn is a group specialized in investment advisory, project design and management, and hotels management. Established in the Paris hotel market for several generations, the company is led by Jean-Bernard and Celine Falco, was founded in 2000 and has 23 hotels under management. Manager, investor and hotel owner, Paris Inn group has a large operational expertise ranging from project development (due diligence and technical assistance), management (operational, financial, IT, HR, legal), to marketing (yield / revenue management, online marketing, web visibility enhancement) for their clients. For more information, visit www.bookinnfrance.com.

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