Goldman Sachs Reportedly Offloads 3 Greek Luxury Hotels After Barely Breaking Even On $117M Investment

Goldman Sachs (GS) has reportedly sold three luxury hotels in Greece that it acquired three years ago as part of its effort to diversify into other sectors and offset risks associated with its lucrative yet volatile Wall Street businesses.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the bank sold the properties in the spring to Sani/Ikos Group, a privately held company that owns and operates hotels in Greece and Spain. It barely broke even on the roughly 100 million euros (approximately $117 million) it had invested in the project.

The bank is reportedly also withdrawing from its plans to establish a hotel chain in the Mediterranean.

Goldman had initially wanted to demolish and rebuild the hotels, according to the report, before reopening their doors again. The firm’s asset-management employees in London and Spain began working on the investments with a partner in Madrid in charge; it also opted to build its management team to oversee the renovation, instead of hiring a firm with expertise in the hospitality industry.

Roughly a year after Goldman Sachs' investment, the project reportedly faced issues with permits, construction, and engineering, signaling a need for additional time and capital. The initial investment projection for the project had been between 150 million and 200 million euros.

At the time of writing, retail sentiment on Stocktwits was in the ‘extremely bullish’ (77/100) territory, while retail chatter remained ‘extremely high.’

Separately, Bloomberg reported that the bank’s top executive at its wealth venture with China’s biggest bank is stepping down after 15 years. He has reportedly been in discussions to join Japan’s Nomura.

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