City Developments Limited, through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, M&C Sakura TMK, has entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Real Estate funds managed by Blackstone, to divest the Bespoke Hotel Osaka Shinsaibashi in Japan for JPY14 billion ($117 million).
CDL had acquired the hotel in August 2023 for JPY8.5 billion, less than a year after Japan reopened its borders to visa-free international travel in October 2022. At the time, CDL said that the hotel was well-placed to benefit from the recovery of tourism in Japan, especially in Osaka, where tourism is expected to strengthen in the coming years.
This is the group’s fourth divestment in 2025, following the sale of its stake in South Beach, the sale of Piccadilly Galleria and the sale of its multifamily asset in Sunnyvale, California.
The 256-room freehold Bespoke Hotel Osaka Shinsaibashi was opened in 2019 and is located in Osaka’s Shinsaibashi commercial district. It is within walking distance to several popular shopping districts and malls including the city’s famous Midosuji Avenue and Shinsaibashi-suji shopping street. The Nagahoribashi and Shinsabashi stations are also just a four-minute and six-minute walk respectively.
According to CDL, the hotel benefited from the positive market recovery momentum amid robust demand from international visitors. This was further augmented by the recently-concluded World Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai.
“This well-timed divestment demonstrates CDL’s ability to identify the right opportunities, taking advantage of Japan’s strong hospitality demand, and executing well to drive and unlock value since acquiring the asset just over two years ago,” says Kwek Eik Sheng, CDL’s group chief operating officer.
“While we are committed to optimising the performance of every asset that we own, we also remain objective and pragmatic in assessing when to divest, ensuring that capital is redeployed where it can maximise shareholder value. This aligns with our disciplined capital recycling and active portfolio optimisation approach,” he adds.
Daisuke Kitta, Blackstone’s head of real estate, Japan, said the group is “pleased” to strengthen its footprint in the country and to add a prime asset to its real estate portfolio.
“This is an intersection of two of Blackstone’s high conviction investment themes – the hospitality and leisure sector and Japan,” he says. “We are one of Japan’s most active foreign investors in hotels and bring a track record of investing in high-quality assets, unlocking their potential through our scale and operational expertise, and delivering value for our investors.”
The proposed divestment is slated to be completed in December.
As at 11.56am, shares in CDL are trading 2 cents lower or 0.28% down at $7.06.
