Select Group buys up resorts in the UK as UAE developers look West to diversify their income streams

Dubai-based real estate developer Select Group is building a larger recurring-income real estate portfolio outside of the UAE with its latest UK hospitality wager. The firm acquired three Delta Hotels by Marriott golf and country club resorts in the UK, Trade Arabia reports.

What it bought: The transaction covers Delta Hotels Breadsall Priory in Derbyshire, St. Pierre Country Club in Chepstow, Wales, and Tudor Park Country Club in Kent, together bringing more than 900 acres of freehold countryside estate. The financial terms were not disclosed.

CEO Israr Liaqat called the UK “an important market,” saying investment in the assets would follow. The acquisition lifts Select’s UK golf resort portfolio to five properties and more than 530 keys after earlier buys, including The Mere Golf Resort & Spa in 2022 and Old Thorns Hotel & Resort last year — pointing to a longer-term hospitality platform rather than a one-off trophy buy.

Select isn’t alone: UAE investors have been investing deeper into yield-generating assets in the UK, including:

• Arzan Wealth launching a UK industrial real estate platform targeting logistics-linked assets;
• IHC’s Al Diafa buying into Richard Caring’s trophy hospitality portfolio;
• Criterion Capital acquiring the 732-key St Giles London Hotel, expanding its central London hospitality footprint.

This is part of a wider UAE developer shift

UAE developers have been shifting toward recurring-income portfolios for a while now. The trend first showed up after the 2008 financial crisis exposed the risks of over-reliance on off-plan sales and leverage, Zawya reports. Post-Covid, that expanded deeper into yield-generating sectors like retail, logistics, hospitality, education, and commercial real estate.

Now, market uncertainty and geopolitical tensions are likely to reinforce demand for steadier cashflows beyond cyclical property sales, Moody’s Aziz Al Sammarai told Zawya. The conflict adds urgency, but the shift is better understood as a “long-term strategic evolution rather than a reactive pivot,” he says.

The listed giants have already gone big: Emaar’s recurring-income portfolio generated more than AED 8 bn in EBITDA in 2025, while Aldar has invested AED 4.9 bn into expanding its develop-to-hold portfolio, with another AED 20.1 bn still in the pipeline. Al Sammarai said these assets now act as a key “credit strength” during property-cycle volatility.

And Select fits a wider private-market trend: Its latest UK hospitality acquisition shows that privately held UAE developers are also leaning deeper into hold-to-yield strategies. Similar moves include Arada’s recent acquisition of a controlling stake in Reem Hospital.

Family offices are getting involved as well, as Al Futtaim, Al Nabooda, and Al Tayer continue to build large yield-generating portfolios that help “fund new projects organically with little to no leverage,” Cushman & Wakefield Core’s David Abood told Zawya.