Article: How Pygmalion doubled profits without breaking the bank

In 2018, Pygmalion Capital, along with CBRE Global Investment Partners, acquired a distressed portfolio of nine four-star hotels in major Spanish cities.  After a period of asset management, Pygmalion successfully sold all nine hotels in 2025. 

HAMA Europe is delighted to announce this year’s finalists for the prestigious 10th Annual HAMA Europe Asset Management Achievement Award.

Pygmalion Capital has been nominated for our 1,654-key portfolio of nine hotels in Spain

Having made a successful exit from that first investment late last year – more than doubling the return on equity invested upon acquisition – Pygmalion founder and CEO Christophe Beauvilain sat down with Green Street News to discuss the firm’s significant plans for the year ahead.

Pygmalion Capital Advisers acquired nine hotels in Spain in 2018 and launched a €6.1 million decarbonisation programme to make the buildings more energy efficient and shift them to renewables. This involved installing heat pumps, a solar electric system, and establishing energy consumption monitoring.

The highly anticipated HAMA Award was presented on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by IHIF EMEA and the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA) Europe and co-sponsored by Questex Hospitality and HotStats.

The winner of this year’s prestigious HAMA Europe Asset Management Achievement Award was Pygmalion Capital for their work on Project Arno, a transformative strategy that more than doubled profits across two Hilton hotels in Florence through smart restructuring, creative cost control, and operational excellence.

The article highlights Pygmalion Capital and Christophe Beauvilain, focusing on the firm’s plans for major hotel transactions across Southern Europe and its active management and ESG improvements to drive strong investor returns despite a slow market.

Pygmalion Capital has partnered with Lithuanian investment group Gemini Grupe to provide a mezzanine loan for Kennedy 89 in Frankfurt.

An interview with Ramon Tomàs Ranz on ESG strategies

During an interview at the International Hotel Investment Forum, Christophe Beauvilain, Pygmalion's founder and managing partner, said his company looks at hotels with a price range of between 30 million euros ($32 million) and 50 million euros.