hospitality

The partners have an initial $500m of lending capacity and could see that increase as opportunities arise.

The move comes as more borrowers are turning to non-bank lenders.

The firm is seeing distress creep in as the covid-19 pandemic continues to tamp down recovery.

Blackstone and Starwood’s sweetening of an already sweetened offer shows a strong conviction in the sector.

The oversubscribed vehicle attracted commitments from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals alike betting on a hospitality comeback.

With recovery underway in the US hotel sector, securitisation activity is gradually picking up in select sub-sectors – albeit with more conservative underwriting.

The $2.8bn sale to Highgate is potentially the first many large hospitality portfolio sales, but a debt transfer of its size is unlikely to be repeated.

Coronavirus shutdowns have pushed nearly $25bn of US CMBS loans to the brink of delinquency, and the worst is yet to come.