European investment giant AXA has acquired a portfolio of four Accor hotels, including three in Sydney’s Olympic Park, for $330.4 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in the biggest hotel deal of the year to date.

The investment by AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets on behalf of its clients comprises the five-star Pullman Sydney Olympic Park, with 218 rooms, the 177-room Novotel Sydney Olympic Park, the 150-room Ibis Novotel Sydney Olympic Park and the 286-room Novotel Canberra.

The three Sydney Olympic Park hotels were developed in the precinct that hosted the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and benefit from sports and concert events at ANZ Stadium and the surrounding entertainment complex.

All four hotels, which have a combined 831 rooms, are managed by Accor, the country’s biggest hotel group on long-term management agreements.

Paris-based insurance giant AXA has €730 billion ($1.17 trillion) of assets under management globally and gross revenues in excess of €100 billion.

Its real assets business has €79 billion under management including €59.8 billion in direct property and infrastructure, but is relatively underweight in hotels with just €2.3 billion.

The investment giant said its Sydney-bsaed team has a “strong conviction over the long term investment performance of the Sydney Olympic Park hotels due to the forecast economic, residential and worker population growth in western Sydney, coupled with a growing calendar of events that are held in the park annually”.

“This transaction presents a rare opportunity to invest in a portfolio of high quality and extremely well located hotels as well as to build on our team’s strong track record of hotel investments,” said AXA IM Real Assets Australia boss Kumar Kalyanakumar