Zug, Switzerland; 28 September, 2020 - Limestone Capital is pleased to announce the formal launch of a fund dedicated to capitalising on opportunities in the European real estate and hospitality sector. As a private partnership between successful real estate investors and technology entrepreneurs, Limestone Capital has developed a unique core expertise that turns the traditional hotel model on its head.
Limestone was founded by seasoned investors Alexander Schütz (CEO, C-Quadrat and Member of the Board of Directors, Deutsche Bank AG), Christian Angermayer (Apeiron Investments), and technology entrepreneurs and hospitality insiders Benjamin Habbel and Jeffrey Coe who are both leading the operations of the firm.
Limestone Capital is a joint platform between some of Europe’s most active and sophisticated family offices including the General Partner’s Alex Schütz Family Office in Vienna and Christian Angermayer’s Apeiron Investments in London, and has over 30 million in AUM.
The firm is combining two major trends in its investment thesis. On the one hand, a dramatic shift to sustainable, healthy and more intimate travel experiences - away from the big box global hotel brands, combined with a once-in-a-decade opportunity to acquire real estate at attractive real estate prices. Both of these trends have been accelerated by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and have fueled both demand for new products and crushed outdated, antiquated business models.
Commenting on the launch, Limestone Capital Managing Partner and co-founder Benjamin Habbel, says:
“The unique insight to apply a fully integrated investment strategy, has allowed for projects often overseen by large institutions due to their lack of sector knowledge, whilst at the same time being too capital intense for local entrepreneurs. This way we are beginning to build a portfolio of real estate investments that promise to deliver strong risk adjusted returns through a lean asset management approach, conservative leverage and technology-enabled operations.”
Alexander Schütz, Limestone Capital General Partner (who also serves as Board Member of Deutsche Bank):, says:
“With highly attractive entry level prices, due to Covid-19 forcing distressed asset sales, and operating assets generating cashflow quickly delivering liquidity for investors, we are confident that we have launched a firm with a highly attractive and sustainable portfolio of investments. Moreover, we believe our investors will benefit from first-class implementation from our team of real estate and technology specialists, working with excellent hand-picked management teams.”
To date, the firm has made the following investments:
Aethos Hotels, which positioned itself with the new generation of environmentally conscious luxury travellers, is led by a team of passionate hoteliers and technology executives that is focused on a lean and profit oriented management approach.
Acquired three assets in Portugal to date, one of which is a city centre hotel asset that is being converted into Lisbon’s premier Luxury hotel and another one is a luxury Surf Hotel along the famous Silver Cost - less than an hour away from Lisbon.
Limestone also acquired at the height of the Corona Crisis an italian village-hotel, called “Locanda del Prete” in Saragano, Umbria. During the crisis it used the lockdown to reimagine and renovate the property and brought it back to life in August under the Aethos banner.
Limestone has sourced a pipeline of highly attractive investment opportunities in key markets, where the firm’s data-driven research, together with qualitative network-driven research, foresees a strong recovery as certain segments of tourists return to travel and spend over-proportionally to the rest of the industry. Examples include a historic landmark hotel in Rome, or a seaside asset in Mallorca, among others.