Company announces joint venture with Orion Partners
International Hotels Investments is poised to sell a majority stake in the five-star Lisbon Corinthia Hotel to private investment firm Orion Capital.
Orion Capital Managers will assume a 72 per cent stake in a joint venture it is forming with International Hotel Investments plc, the owner of the luxury Corinthia Hotels brand.
In a statement, IHI said that the deal establishes a valuation for the hotel “above book value”. The 517-room Corinthia Lisbon – the largest luxury hotel in the Portuguese capital – had a €144 million asset value as of December 2024.
The joint venture will see Orion – an experienced private equity firm focused on the real estate and hotel sector – deploy capital through its Orion European Real Estate Fund VI,
Under the terms of the deal, Corinthia Hotels Limited, a subsidiary of IHI which manages Corinthia hotels, will continue to manage and operate the hotel under the Corinthia brand.
The transaction is subject to a series of actions necessary to complete the financing and transfer of the hotel to the Joint Venture. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.
Corinthia Hotel Lisbon recently underwent a major refurbishment. The hotel features a 3,000 square metre spa and three restaurants, among other amenities.
IHI had previously signalled to shareholders that it was looking to sell a “significant portion” of its Lisbon hotel, listing it as an asset for sale in its FY2024 filings and selling
The hotel is one of the group’s best performers. Revenues grew from €25.2 million in 2022 to €38 million in 2024 and its EBITDA margin rose from 21.8% to 26.8% over the same period, outpacing IHI’s flagship London hotel.
The sale will help IHI reduce its debt load: its net debt-to-EBIDTA ratio stood at a significant 11.7x in 2024.
IHI has active investments or operations in over 20 countries, including luxury Corinthia hotels in cities such as London, New York and Brussels. It is also planning to open new owned or managed hotels in Rome and areas across the Gulf. Last year it unveiled plans to develop a luxury hotel in the heart of Dubai, and it plan to open a 60-room luxury hotel in Rome in the coming months. Other planned investments include a new hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and one in the Maldives.
Orion Capital Managers is a leading European private equity firm with offices in London, Madrid, Milan, and Paris. Its This Orion European Real Estate Fund VI has a target size of €1.5 billion. The joint venture with IHI is its first investment.
IHI Group CEO Simon Naudi said the company would use capital from the partial sale “in support of the achievement of our goals on shareholder returns and brand growth worldwide.”
“We are pleased to welcome Orion as a strategic partner and majority investor in our Lisbon hotel, in which we will continue to hold an interest and operate as a Corinthia Hotel,” he said.
Orion partner Rami Badr said the deal had significant upside potential, citing Lisbon’s strong hospitality market and the quality of the recently refurbished hotel. Aref Lahham, Orion’s founding partner, said the deal would leverage the company’s experience in luxury hospitality “to deliver a compelling first investment for Fund VI.”
