Gilbert + Tobin has advised private hospitality group Iris Capital on the acquisition of a portfolio of 17 ibis hotels from AccorInvest, the acquisition being the largest hotel deal in 2020.

The $180 million hotel portfolio comprises of 17 hotels with 1797 rooms, including the ibis Sydney Airport, ibis Budget Sydney Olympic Park, ibis Hotel & Apartments Melbourne, ibis Budget Brisbane Airport and ibis Newcastle. The transaction has increased Iris Capital’s hotel portfolio to 45 and cemented its position as one of the largest accommodation hotel owners in Australia.

Gilbert + Tobin advised Iris Capital on all aspects of the acquisition including deal structuring, due diligence, the negotiation of the implementation agreement and the associated contracts of sale and ancillary documents for each of the 17 hotels.

The team was led by Real Estate + Projects Partner, Amanda Hempel, with support from Special Counsel, Jo Bayes and lawyers Isabelle Wong and Sara Ayoub.

Amanda Hempel commented, “This transaction highlights the team’s continued success in providing our clients with commercially astute and responsive advice, and we are very pleased to have helped Iris with this transaction.”

Gilbert + Tobin’s Real Estate + Projects lawyers have an established track record and experience in acting on a broad range of market leading real estate transactions, including recently advising Westpac on the sale of its offsite ATM portfolio and GrainCorp on the property aspects of its $350 million disposal of the Liquids Terminals business and $3.3 billion demerger.