Vennre, Valpre target Athens with Shariah hospitality offering

UK PE firms Valpre Capital and Vennre Capital have joined hands to tap the booming Greek hospitality market, with a real estate investment opportunity aimed at the rising ranks of wealthy individuals described as HENRYs (high earners, not rich yet).

The co-investment model is a common practice in PE and adopts the concept of an aparthotel – or hotel with serviced apartments – where Vennre clients invest in a Valpre Capital project benefiting from the latter’s expertise, Vennre Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer Anas Halabi shared with IFN Investor.  

“We specifically liked this opportunity as it offers a Shariah compliant way into hospitality. It takes a lot of understanding, experience and relationships to access, validate and execute these opportunities. Making them available for HENRYs in an easy and curated form is our mission.”

Dubbed YotelPad, this project is located in a repurposed office building that is being redeveloped in the heart of Athens, seen as one of Europe’s fastest-growing cities and a prime destination for both leisure and business tourism.

Anas noted that the lack of available existing hotels or even sites to develop has created a clear opportunity to reposition abundant office buildings in the heart of the city – a strategy that Valpre Capital has been working on successfully in recent years as Greece emerged from economic distress.

To ensure the asset stays Halal, the partners decided to make the YotelPad offering a "dry" limited service aparthotel focused on studio apartments for short-term lets. This YotelPad business model emphasizes room design and guest comfort, with minimal exposure to food and beverage operations.

Anas added that Vennre’s proprietary Shariah structure – and the guidance of Bahrain’s Shariyah Review Bureau – was used as well to resolve issues around conventional debt.

"What makes these opportunities attractive for Vennre clients is that they have never been accessible to them before," Anas said, noting that private market opportunities are usually the playground of the institutions and high-net-worth individuals.

HENRYs refers to individuals with significant income who have not yet accumulated substantial wealth. Often making between US$250,000 and US$500,000 annually, HENRYs are typically younger, highly educated professionals like doctors, lawyers and tech workers.

Anas said HENRYs have a limited risk appetite, generally prefer less complex opportunities and have a shorter investment horizon than institutional investors or larger family offices who are the typical investors for Valpre Capital.

Looking ahead, Anas envisions a global expansion of the aparthotel model, focusing on mature markets like the US, Switzerland and Europe, while pursuing "opportunities in growing, emerging markets" like Athens.

With Vennre’s strategy of strict risk management, deploying only modest leverage and having “a clear path to exit”, Anas said the firm’s London base provides a good platform to see over 500 deals every year – adding that Vennre’s presence in the Saudi market has laid ground for a similar launch in Q4 2025.

“Since our first deal in October 2023, all our assets are performing well within the business plan, distributing profits where applicable and we are excited to have our first exit in 2026 hopefully ahead of schedule. You must note that while there will hopefully be some overperformers, we are mostly focused on mitigating downside risk in every deal that we look at.”