Israeli hotelier David Fattal continues to expand his European hotel chain by leaps and bounds. Fattal Holdings (1998) Ltd. (TASE: FTAL) today reported that it had contracted an agreement to acquire a Dutch holding company with ownership, rental, and management rights to 12 hotels having an aggregate 1,938 rooms in the Netherlands. Fattal has been given a six-week exclusivity period in which to carry out due diligence for the Dutch company before signing a final acquisition agreement. The price of the acquisition was set at €160 million (NIS 700 million), and will be adjusted according to the Dutch company's cash and debt.
Fattal Holdings currently holds 170 hotels with 33,000 rooms in 17 countries. The company has 130 hotels in Europe, of which it owns 50 in whole or in part, rents 76, and manages the rest. Its largest concentration of hotels is in Germany, where it holds 60 hotels, followed by the UK with 42 hotels.
Fattal currently leases a 103-room hotel in Amsterdam, and is currently in the process of building another hotel in Amsterdam with 490 rooms scheduled to open in a year's time. If the deal goes through, it will be a big step forward for the company's business in the Netherlands.
David Fattal founded the chain 20 years ago, and serves as the chairperson and CEO of the company, in which he owns a controlling interest. He started doing business in Europe 12 years ago, and has continually expanded in the continent ever since, mainly by acquiring groups of hotels. In late 2017, Fattal concluded a major deal when he acquired the management and leasing of 36 hotels of the Jurys Inn chain in the UK and Ireland for £120 million (NIS 570 million) as part of a deal in which Pandox, a Swedish hotel chain, and others acquired the hotel chain to be managed by Fattal from the Lone Star private equity fund.
Fattal Holdings published its first financial statements as a public company a week ago, following the company's IPO in February. Fattal Holdings raised NIS 500 million in the offering at a company value of NIS 4.5 billion, after money.
Fattal Holdings' share has jumped 20% since its IPO, pushing the company's market cap up to NIS 5.3 billion, meaning that it will in all probability enter the Tel Aviv 35 Index when the indices are next revised in early May (Fattal Holdings currently has the 25th largest market cap on the TASE). Fattal Holdings' market cap is over double that of veteran hotel chain Isrotel Ltd. (TASE: ISRO), and almost double the value of Dan Hotels (David Fattal began his hotel career in management positions in these two companies).
The revenue of Fattal Holdings, in which David Fattal holds a 63.5% stake, rose 40% to NIS 2.6 billion last year, while its net profit was up 44% to NIS 194 million. Fattal Holdings stated in its financial reports that it planned to acquire two hotels in Israel in the next two months, one in Haifa and one in Beersheva, from private companies controlled by businessperson Yitzhak Tshuva for NIS 230 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 8, 2018
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