La Manga Club, one of Europe’s most popular golf resorts and residential communities, has been bought by Hesperia Investment Group, one of Spain’s leading hotel owners, for an undisclosed sum.
The 560-hectare resort, which is located in the Spanish region of Murcia, boasts three 18-hole championship golf courses, a five-star hotel, 200 apartments, more than 15 bars and restaurants, a private beach, and a Wellness Centre. It also offers a 28-court tennis centre, eight full-size football pitches and the European Cricket Performance Centre.
Hesperia has acquired a majority stake in the resort and has already unveiled plans to invest significant sums in the resort, which previously belonged to Inmogolf, a company linked to Arum Group. Arum will continue to run the real estate business in La Manga through its subsidiary Inmogolf.
Jordi Ferrer, CEO of Hesperia, said: “This operation perfectly matches our growth strategy in the hotel market with quality assets that allow us to keep consolidating as a reference in the Spanish hotel industry and, in particular, this acquisition will allow us to create the best resort in South Europe.”
Jesús Abellán, CEO of Arum Group, said: “Hesperia is the optimal partner to continue with this expansion project as this deal strengthens not only the resort’s further extension, but also the development of the whole area, with a huge potential for residential tourism growth.”
Hesperia’s property portfolio currently includes more than 5,000 rooms across 29 hotels, with six leisure resorts located in the Balearic Islands, Peninsula and Canary Islands, as well as 23 urban hotels situated in Spain’s main cities.
La Manga will fit within Hesperia Hotels & Resorts’ catalogue of leisure and sports facilities, which so far was focused on the Canary and Balearic Islands, where it currently owns four resorts. Three of them are run in partnership with the Apple Leisure Group.
Hesperia is also considering the option of closing a commercial deal with an international operator for some of the hotels at La Manga, including the five-star, 192-room Hotel Príncipe Felipe. Ferrer added: “Our strategy consists in always looking for the best alternative for each hotel.”