Goldman Sachs is backing out of its plans for a Greek hotel business
The investment bank has sold the resorts it bought just three years ago, even as tourism soars.
As summer finally starts to unfurl, the idea of escaping to an idyllic Mediterranean paradise with sandy beaches and clear seas becomes even more appealing than usual. Goldman Sachs, though, doesn’t feel the same way, wrapping up its Greek hotel business before it’s even properly underway, per exclusive Wall Street Journal reporting.
The investment banking giant purchased three resorts in Halkidiki on the Greek mainland just three years ago, buoyed by cheap property prices, the nation’s economic recovery, and the hoards of tourists who descend on the European hotspot each year. However, the costs to renovate the hotels rose higher than Goldman had anticipated and, feeling that its plan to revamp the properties and sell them for a tidy profit was taking too much time and money, the company sold this spring. The bank barely broke even on the ~€100 million ($117 million) it sunk into the project, sources told the Journal.
Though Goldman’s Greek odyssey wasn’t the success story it had hoped for, as the behemoth continues its efforts to diversify the business beyond Wall Street, millions of people are still flocking to the island nation, even if they won’t be stopping in a Sachs-backed suite anytime soon.
European locals in picturesque countries blessed with incredible weather and amazing cuisine might not (read: definitely don’t) like it, but more and more people are flocking to their home nations to sample a taste of the Mediterranean lifestyle. Indeed, as authorities looked to combat overtourism, Greece welcomed a record 40.7 million tourists last year — almost 3x as many as it did as recently as 2006 — adding a whopping €21.6 billion ($25.3 billion) to the economy.
