https://arab.news/wqmnz
CAIRO: Saudi Arabia’s Lifestyle Hospitality Fund is on a shopping spree with funds of $400 million to develop lifestyle properties across the Kingdom, including urban beachfront, according to one of the key figures in the organization.
Established last November, LHF is an outcome of a tripartite partnership among the Kingdom’s Tourism Development Fund, London-based hospitality giant Ennismore and asset manager Al Rajhi Capital.
While TDF is the anchor investor, Al Rajhi Capital manages it and Ennismore will lead the operations once the lifestyle brands are ready.
“We’re in the final stage of negotiating the purchase of assets and reviewing several more for the fund. So, we are at that stage where we can expect to exponentially progress with the fund quite soon,” said Assem Raqaban, head of real estate at Al Rajhi Capital, while speaking at the Future Hospitality Summit held in Riyadh.
Raqaban was part of a panel discussion that featured his counterparts at LHF, Wahdan Al-Kadi, chief business officer of Tourism Development Fund and Louis Abi Abboud, chief development officer of Ennismore.
This partnership reflects the concerted efforts of the public and private sectors to capture good investment opportunities while realizing the objectives of Vision 2030.
“I think the most interesting part of the partnership is that we can have a much bigger involvement in the creation and the establishment of our brands in the market because both the fund manager and the sponsor are allowing us to be active in all stages of the project which allows us to create products that are authentic,” said Ennismore’s Abi Abboud.
Ennismore owns 14 brands, 103 operating properties and has 144 more projects in the pipeline.
On the other hand, TDF has been launching equity and debt investment vehicles to develop the tourism sector in collaboration with private and investment banks.
“The current capital allocated is for the first batch only and will work to deliver around 2,000 rooms in the coming years,” said TDF’s Al-Kadi, adding that it is also exploring similar projects with different value propositions to target other segments in the tourism sector.