IFA Hotels and Resorts has signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) to sell its Fairmont The Palm property for $325 million to Arzan Investment Management (AIM), a unit of Kuwait’s Arzan Financial Group (AFG), according to a company statement.
The 391-room luxury hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah is set to become a key asset in AIM’s new GCC Hospitality Fund platform, ZAWYA reported. The acquisition follows AIM’s purchase of the VOCO Bonnington Dubai in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Talal Jassim Al Bahar, Chairman of AIM and AFG, said the acquisition aligns with the company’s long-term investment strategy. “This acquisition is in line with AIM’s strategy to invest into full-service hotels in key gateway cities to create institutional investment products,” he said.
The deal is subject to regulatory conditions and is expected to close in the coming months. In October, IFA Hotels secured a refinancing deal worth AED 600 million ($163 million) from a UAE-based bank for the Fairmont The Palm, structured as a 15-year loan. According to sources cited by Zawya, the refinancing is intended to settle an outstanding AED 581 million loan with another UAE lender.
IFA Hotels is a subsidiary of International Financial Advisors (IFA), a Kuwait-based firm listed on Boursa Kuwait and the Dubai Financial Market (DFM). The company’s portfolio spans hospitality, real estate, and investment holdings across the Middle East and beyond.
The sale is part of an ongoing trend of asset sales in Dubai’s hospitality market as regional investors expand their holdings in prime real estate assets. Recent market data shows continued interest in UAE luxury hotel properties amid rising tourism numbers and robust post-pandemic demand.
