CPI Property Group, which has a majority stake in the hotel company Sunny Hvar, has confirmed that it has signed a binding agreement for the sale of 100 percent of the shares of Sunny Hvar Real Estate and Sunny Hvar to the buyer Eagle Hills, an investor and developer of real estate and hospitality from Abu Dhabi.
– CPI Property Group is pleased to announce the signing of a binding agreement for the sale of 100 percent of the shares of Sunny Hvar Real Estate d.o.o. and Sunny Hvar d.d., companies that own and manage the Sunny Hvar hotels, a unique portfolio of resorts on the island of Hvar in Croatia. The buyer is Eagle Hills, an investor and developer in the field of real estate and hospitality based in Abu Dhabi – they report from CPI.
For the transaction itself, i.e., the achieved purchase amount, they do not disclose details or when it will be completed, adding that the transaction is subject to approval by the Croatian antitrust agency.
– CPI Group continues to record strong investor interest in hotels as tourism and business travel have fully recovered from the period of the pandemic. We are confident that Eagle Hills will contribute to the continued success of Hvar as a desirable tourist destination – briefly stated the director of CPI Hotels (responsible for the hotel business within the group) Jan Kratina.
From the Group, they also stated on Tuesday in response to Hina’s inquiries that they ‘have no further comments other than this official announcement’.
Sunny Hvar is the most important island and overall hotel company for Hvar and the Split-Dalmatia County, as well as Croatian tourism as a whole, which has changed several foreign owners in the last 20 years, from privatization to now. They have invested in the facilities of this hotel company, as well as in market repositioning to a higher level of service quality and offerings. Since 2014, it has been owned by CPI Group, and the company’s portfolio includes several hotels, camps, beach clubs, and facilities. It can accommodate about two thousand tourists daily and employs around 700 permanent and seasonal workers.
The current management of Sunny Hvar, led by president Gordana Tomičić, has not yet commented or responded to inquiries, nor has CPI Group responded to whether they know anything about the plans of the new buyer/owner of Sunny Hvar, nor why they sold the company.
Media reports speculate, according to alleged sources from the industry and others (anonymously), that the sale price is around 200 million euros, and that CPI Group ‘aims to reduce substantial debt through the sale, for which numerous acquisitions are to blame’.
They also state that the buyer is Muhamed Alabar, the owner of Eagle Hills, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
