Christie & Co advises Generator’s €440m refinancing deal

Christie and Co has advised Ares Real Estate Group on a €440m (£387.3m) global refinancing of Generator Hostels’ European arm.

The transaction, which has been recognised as one of the largest real estate refinancings to date in 2023, was also completed with Generator’s existing lenders, Waterfall Asset Management and Värde Partner, who arranged €330m (£287m) for Generator’s US arm.

Generator is one of Europe’s largest hostel brands, offering a mix of private and shared accommodation and public spaces, in central locations across Europe and North America.

Christie and Co provided consultancy and commercial due diligence services to Ares, including a review of the European hostel sector, and reviews of the portfolio as well as individual assets, together with loan security valuation advice.

Carine Bonnejean, MD – Hotels at Christie and Co, who led the consultancy and commercial due diligence along with Pierre Ricord, head of Consultancy – Hotels, said: “We are delighted to have supported this landmark transaction both from a consultancy and valuation perspective. It is particularly positive for the hostels sector which is being increasingly understood by the investment community and offers great growth opportunities in the next few years, across Europe in particular.”

Ricord added: “It is fantastic to see this significant refinancing deal result from the seamless collaboration of our expert consultancy and valuation teams. We were able to develop creative research and methodology to support Ares in evaluating the fast growing and diversifying hostel market across Generator’s key gateway locations as well as the opportunities offered by the wider European development playing field.”