SC Capital Partners buys a Maldives resort

SC Capital Partners, the Singapore-based private equity real estate property firm, has made its first property investment in the Maldives with the acquisition of a luxury resort.

The firm, led by Suchad Chiaranussati, has acquired Reethi Beach Resort via its Real Estate Capital Asia Partners (RECAP) IV fund. PERE understands that around $33 million was paid for the resort. The deal reflected a cap rate of 6 percent.

The 124-villa resort is located in Baa Atoll, an area declared as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which is home to many other high-end resorts.

JLL’s Hotels and Hospitality Group, which brokered the transaction, said in a statement that the resort was offered for sale with the benefit of an immediate stable rental income stream from a sub-lease interest and the prospect of repositioning the asset in the medium term.

“We received an unprecedented number of expressions of interest for this sale from investors across the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, including China, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates,” said Nihat Ercan, executive vice president, JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group. “Underpinned by the market’s robust trading fundamentals, as well as the significant revisionary opportunity the resort offers at expiry of the sublease, the asset resonated strongly with the investment community.”

SC Capital Partners’ latest opportunity vehicle, RECAP IV, is a pan-Asia opportunity fund, for which the firm raised $850 million in the final close in December last year, exceeding its original $750 million target. The investments via the fund are being made across Asia, with Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Japan being the key targets.

Earlier this year, the firm acquired The Rydges Darwin Airport Hotel and Resort in Australia from the Denwol Group reportedly for around $80 million via the fund. 

The firm is also understood to be plotting the launch of a core fund for Asia with a fundraising target of between $400 million to $500 million.