The Austrian group House of Julius Meinl, which owns the two largest chocolate factories in Romania (Kandia and Heidi), is targeting Bucharest as a market for the expansion of its subsidiary Julius Meinl Living. Investors were interested in buying the Ambasador Hotel in the center of Bucharest, but did not reach an agreement with the owners, according to information obtained by news.ro and Profit.ro.

Julius Meinl, one of the largest producers of premium coffee in Central and Eastern Europe with more than 160 years of history, entered the hotel market in 2019 through its subsidiary Julius Meinl Living, through which it owns two properties: Julius in Prague , opening in spring 2022, and Escala Hotel & Suites, which continues to operate under that name pending renovation. In total, these two properties have 219 apartments and a market value of more than 124 million euros.

Julius Meinl Living’s task was to open at least 15 hotels with a total of 2,000 accommodation units within 3-6 years.

“Julius Meinl Living can invest throughout the European Union and possibly also in neighboring countries, but initially it will focus on capital cities such as Prague, Budapest, Bucharest and other central European capitals, as Julius Meinl Living believes that these are currently the most attractive for of its business model,” the company said.

“As of this date, Ambasador SA has no inquiries regarding the purchase of a 4-star hotel. I would also like to note that from negotiations with potential buyers, they all wanted to purchase the entire building “Ambassador hotel”, respectively, a hotel with 99 places for accommodation and another part returned to the heirs, which is currently in the commonwealth – the property of individuals. The management of Ambasador does not conduct any dialogue with the co-owners of the returned part regarding a possible sale,” Andriy Istrate, president of the board of directors of Ambasador SA, explained to Profit.ro.