MONTREAL - Quebec's pension fund manager will focus on three luxury hotels in the province after it sells the remainder of its portfolio, including landmark Fairmont hotels Royal York in Toronto and Hotel Vancouver.
The Caisse de depot says its holdings will be whittled down to Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel which will be renovated, the refurbished Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City and the W Hotel adjacent to its Montreal headquarters.
Real estate subsidiary Ivanhoe Cambridge has been selling its portfolio of 70 hotels in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Barbados and India to concentrate on retail, office and residential multi-family units that generate more stable returns.
Among the hotels already sold are Ottawa's Chateau Laurier.
Hotels will account for about $400 million, or nearly one per cent, of Ivanhoe's $42-billion assets, down from eight to 10 per cent in recent years.
Other hotels up for sale are Fairmont locations in Victoria, Barbados, Seattle and Washington, D.C., along with the Hilton Downtown Atlanta.
Executive Sylvain Fortier says Ivanhoe Cambridge has received higher returns on the sale of European hotels purchased in 2006 than it expects from the sale of the Fairmont hotels acquired in 2007.
He says likely interested buyers of the Canadian hotels are Asian and European investors.
The flagship Chateau Frontenac has been undergoing a $70-million upgrade that will be completed in July. Renovations to the 1,000-room Quebec Elizabeth Hotel are expected to be announced this fall, mostly to upgrade the first floors of the downtown business hotel.