The mandate to find new financial partners for the Rocco Forte group has been assigned to Rotschild.
Potential Gulf investors or Lvmh?
The prize being 49% of the company, which is also linked to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti through Cdp Equity, which in 2014 bought 23% of the British hotel group for €76 million. But the pact between Cdp and Sir Rocco Forte expires next February. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti could thus take advantage of the sale to monetise its investment. Potential buyers, according to the daily La Repubblica, could be from the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia's Pif, as well as the Lvmh group, which already owns Belmond.
The Rocco Forte Group could be worth over €1 billion
Currently Rocco Forte has 14 hotels, 20 villas and 42 starred bars and restaurants with over 1,500 rooms. The company is set to close 2022 with revenues in the region of £300 million and around sixty million in gross operating margins. Recent openings, including Athens and Mikonos, are expected to boost gross operating margins by another €15 million in 2023. With these figures, the valuation of the Rocco Forte Group could reach over one billion euro.
The Group continues to add new hotels and apartments
The operation would also have significant repercussions in Italy given that the British company already has three properties in Rome (including a series of apartments), two in Sicily and one in Puglia, and ambitious plans for two new openings in Milan, the Carlton Hotel and luxury apartments in Via della Spiga, as well as new properties in Naples and Sardinia.
