Grant Thornton assists Irish Staycity Group

Berlin, 27 November 2024 - The Staycity Group (Staycity), a leading aparthotel operator, has announced the acquisition of a 74.9% stake in the Felix Group owned by the Munich-based denkmalneu Group (DMN). Staycity will operate two aparthotels in Leipzig and Dresden and one in the Austrian city of Vienna. Both the Leipzig and Dresden aparthotels, with a total of 388 rooms, will be rebranded as Staycity Aparthotels. The 130-apartment property in Vienna will open under Staycity’s lifestyle brand Wilde after completion in the second quarter of 2025. DMN retains a shareholding in all three properties.

In the transaction, a cross-border team from Grant Thornton Germany and Grant Thornton Austria led by the Partner Matthias Lowa successfully assisted Staycity with tax and financial due diligence.

The Dublin-based Staycity Group was established in 2004. Today, Staycity operates 5,800 aparthotel rooms in 35 aparthotels across 17 cities. The aparthotels feature studios, one-bed and two-bed apartments, sleeping up to six people with a fully fitted kitchen. Current locations include Berlin, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Dresden, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Liverpool, London, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Paris, Venice and York.

The denkmalneu Group (DMN) is a German real estate developer specialising in commercial, residential and mixed-use properties across the DACH region. Headquartered in southern Germany, the company was founded in 2011 and focuses on the conversion and development of these property types. From 2011 to 2024, the group’s assets under management (AUM) reached up to €1.5 billion. In addition to real estate development, DMN has expanded into the hospitality sector, building a portfolio of three hotels (Dresden, Leipzig, Vienna).