Mergers & Acquisitions

🏡 Grand Metropolitan Hotels acquires luxury brand Voile d’Or Hotels and Resorts, including all brand rights and management contracts. Voile d’Or operates in London, Paris, New York, Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, St. Barths, and Courchevel. The first hotel, Hotel La Voile d’Or, opened in 1925 and will reopen in 2029 after renovation. Jacques Oudinot becomes CEO, with Edouard Deschepper as board director. Martin Smura announces plans for expansion into the Maldives, Dubai, and Lisbon.

🏡 Grand Metropolitan Hotels acquires Voile d’Or Hotels and Resorts, gaining Brand and IP rights, and management contracts. Voile d’Or, a 100-year-old luxury brand, operates in six locations: London, Paris, New York, Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, St. Barths, and Courchevel. The acquisition expands Grand Metropolitan's luxury offerings, with future plans for the Maldives, Dubai, and Lisbon. Hotel La Voile d’Or in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat is set to reopen in 2029, honoring its 1925 origins. Jacques Oudinot is the new CEO of Voile d’Or, alongside Board Director Edouard Deschepper. The purchase price is undisclosed.

🏨 Citybox Hotels signed to operate a 240-room hotel in Kastrup, Copenhagen, in partnership with CapMan. The Best Western Plus Copenhagen Airport will be renovated and rebranded to open as a Citybox hotel in 2026. The hotel is one metro stop from the airport with direct city centre access. This deal follows CapMan's acquisition of a 28-hotel Nordic portfolio. Citybox has a long-term management agreement with CapMan for the Copenhagen property.

🔓 Myst Hotels & Resorts acquired 77-bedroom Careys Manor Hotel & SenSpa in Brockenhurst, New Forest, marking its first international investment. Careys Manor, owned by Greenclose Hotels for 50 years, received a £6 million investment in a 24,000 sq feet Thai spa, SenSpa. The hotel boasts 4 AA Silver Stars, Best Spa in the South-East, and a Green Tourism Gold Award. Myst Hotels aims to enhance the guest experience while preserving the hotel’s legacy. The Gupta founders of Myst are eager to build on Careys Manor's success. Greenclose retains ownership of sister properties The Montagu Arms and The Imperial Hotel.

🍕 Invus, a private equity company, invested in SeoulSpice nearly one year ago. SeoulSpice opened its first restaurant outside the DMV area in Chicago. The eight-unit Korean comfort food brand, guided by Invus, which propelled Cava's growth, plans national expansion with a focus on D.C. and Chicago. SeoulSpice founder and CEO Eric Shin, a Julliard-trained symphony percussionist, pivoted to food service to make Korean cuisine more accessible. The first SeoulSpice opened in 2016 in Washington, D.C.'s Noma neighborhood. During its grand opening, the restaurant ran out of food by 2 p.m. The brand offers a modern take on Korean food, includes American flavors like Ranch dressing, and makes its own Sriracha sauce.

🏨 IHG acquired the Ruby brand from Ruby SARL for €110.5m (~$116m) including the brand and intellectual property. Ruby, founded in 2013, has 20 hotels with 3,483 rooms across Europe and 10 more hotels with 2,235 rooms in the pipeline, set to open within three years. The Ruby brand aims for rapid global expansion, targeting over 120 hotels in 10 years and 250 in 20 years. The brand's net system size CAGR is 26% over the last five years. IHG paid an upfront fee of €109.9m and will pay €0.6m later, with franchise fees from the existing and pipeline hotels expected to be $8m in 2028 and more than $15m by 2030. IHG's integration of the 20 open Ruby hotels will begin in 2025 and should be completed by March 31, 2026, increasing its global system size by 0.3%, with the pipeline hotels adding another 0.2%. Integration costs for IHG are estimated at $10m in 2025, aiming for breakeven in 2026 and profitability thereafter.

🌮 CapitalSpring's Mas Mex group, under CEO John Iannucci, acquired Escalante’s Fine Tex Mex & Tequila in Houston in June 2023 and Fat Rosie’s Taco and Tequila Bar in Chicagoland in October 2023. Escalante’s, with a 30-year history and seven Texas locations, makes tortillas and sauces from scratch, planning two Houston openings in 2026. Fat Rosie’s opened its sixth location with 4.9 average online reviews, aiming for four to five new locations annually. Expansion targets include Ohio and Nashville for Fat Rosie’s, and Austin for Escalante’s, alongside modernization efforts.

🏛 Galgorm Resort, a luxury resort and spa in Northern Ireland, joins the Elegant Hotel Collection, increasing the exclusive membership to 32 in celebration of the brand's first anniversary. Set within 500 acres on the North Antrim Coast, Galgorm Resort offers 201 accommodations, including suites, cabins, and residences. The resort is positioned near Belfast airports and features award-winning restaurants, bars, conference facilities, and is part of the Galgorm Collection, which includes Roe Park Resort, Galgorm Castle Estate, The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat, The Old Inn, and two restaurants in Belfast. The partnership aims to expand market reach to luxury travelers in the UK and USA, targeting MICE and Group bookings.

🏡 Initially listed without a year of operating history and a non-specialist broker, the property was pulled from the market. In early 2023, broker David du Menil from The Intrepid Group relisted it at $7.3M. Under contract at $6.5M, the nonrefundable earnest money was set at $15,000. A buyer's funding fell through days before closing, costing nearly the amount of earnest money in attorney fees. A new $7M offer with $200,000 earnest money was nearly lost when an investor withdrew, but the sale completed after an additional six-week wait.