London-based investment firm Tristan Capital Partners is the new owner of budget hotel brand EasyHotel.
A June 5 announcement confirmed the completion of the 100% acquisition, first agreed on May 1, for an estimated consideration of approximately €242 million ($277.7 million).
The actual buyer is Tristan Capital’s discretionary fund European Property Investors Special Opportunities 6.
Following this deal and across all its funds, Tristan Capital now has more than €1 billion of hotel assets.
Kristian Smyth, Tristan Capital’s managing director of investments, said in a news release that “this transaction [brings] the total committed hotel investments to more than €1 billion to date. The EasyHotel brand perfectly complements our growing platform with a compelling offering that delivers great value in centrally located destinations.”
In August 2024, EasyHotel said it was “exploring various strategic options regarding the company, including the possible sale of the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of the company.”
No further financial details of the deal were announced on June 5.
On May 1, EasyHotel said the deal comprised the acquisition for cash of approximately 189.5 million shares, 81% of its entire share issue, at an aggregate price of €196.13 million. including the 17.38% of EasyHotel owned by the Haji-Ioannou family office, which founded the brand in 2004.
EasyHotel recently opened a 111-room hotel in Marseille and announced another hotel in Zurich.
Also in its pipeline are hotels in Alicante, Barcelona, Geneva and Valencia.
The budget hotel brand has bounced from private to public to private ownership, with this deal seeing it remain privately held.
Founded in 2004 by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, EasyHotel became public in 2014. Since 2019, the company has been in private hands, with the majority share held in a joint venture between ICAMAP and Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate division of CDPQ.
A May 1 news release from EasyHotel said “EasyGroup will continue to provide the easyHotel.com brand to the [new owner] under license in return for a reasonable royalty.”
In EasyHotel's latest full-year earnings results, its posted a 4% year-on-year revenue increase to £91.2 million ($123.48 million), which the firm said is a record high for the company.
Accompanying the earnings’ report was the news that EasyHotel had secured £80 million in refinancing and new debt.