Cushman & Wakefield has announced the formation of a specialized Hospitality Investments division in Moscow, as part of an ongoing global strategy to offer a full service range to appropriate markets.
The Hospitality Investment division led by David Jenkins (Partner, Head of Hospitality) will focus on the growing need for specialized hospitality investment support in Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe.
"Having opened our hospitality department two years ago, we now believe the timing is right to expand the service line according to our initial plans and the improved market conditions.
"We see a growing interest from our existing clients and the market in general for this service in Moscow and the wider region. Cushman & Wakefield achieved a significant growth in hospitality advisory market share in 2011 and at the same time our Capital Markets practice secured a number of the most significant instructions in the market," commented Sergey Riabokobylko, Partner and General Director of Cushman & Wakefield (from June 1), Russia.
"Our new focus on hospitality investments will use the combined talents of our Hospitality and Capital Markets teams to provide a unique service to the market. This important step also goes along with our general expansion plan to double our revenues in the Region."
"The Russian hotel market has been more or less a development market over the past 10 years with limited transaction volumes", comments David Jenkins.
"There have been transactions of old Soviet-era hotels that have since been re-branded as international properties and the occasional trophy sale such as the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow.
"We now see the investment cycle in hospitality changing from a pure development base to a mix of continuing development as well as a growth in asset sales. There is significant interest, not only in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg and many regional cities where hotel asset performance has been very positive in the last 18 months"
Tom Cashel, Partner and Head of Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield, Russia, said: "Cushman & Wakefield's success in Russian real estate capital markets is based on the detailed understanding we have for the finance in each client's asset/business.
"The impressive international hospitality experience David Jenkins and his team bring to the Cushman & Wakefield platform will underpin the new Hospitality Investments Division allowing us to leverage our proven approach to Russian real estate capital markets into the hospitality vertical for the benefit of our clients."
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
