30 Jul 2015
Words Carla Cook

Thai Minor drawn to Top End

Thai Minor drawn to Top End

Acquisitions: Thai-based hotel group Minor International has splashed into Darwin, paying almost $60 million for Gwelo Investments’ Elan SOHO Suites.

Minor owns AVANI, Marriott, Anantar, Four Seasons, Oaks Hotels and other international brands, and operates more than 16,000 rooms around the world.

In Australia, the group controls 43 properties run under the Oaks Hotels and Resorts label.

The Darwin purchase is the group’s second outright acquisition in Australia, with the property joining a portfolio containing just one other freehold asset, the Oaks Grand Gladstone Hotel in Queensland.

The acquisition is part of Minor’s expansion strategy to tap more Australian and southeast Asian tourists, according to chief executive Dillip Rajakarier. “As part of our business expansion strategy, both in Australia and abroad, we have been focused on accumulating quality assets in a number of regional locations alongside extending our portfolio of management properties in both city and resort destinations,” he said.

Darwin has long been on the group’s wish list, he added.

The 27-storey hotel on Woods Street in the centre of Darwin has 301 4½-star rooms. It was built last year.

The deal includes the hotel’s 168 rooms and the management rights over 133 investor-owned apartments and 259 car parks.

Trudy Crooks of Resort Brokers and Steve Dawson of Bali-based Prime Resort Services brokered the deal.