Mergers & Acquisitions

🌏 Rockbridge acquired the 200-room Hyatt House Chicago West Loop/Fulton Market near McDonald’s global HQ and Chicago’s United Center. Fulton Market is a hub for offices, residences, dining, and nightlife. The hotel, built in 2019, offers amenities like a rooftop center, pool, and fitness center. Jones Lang LaSalle advised the sellers on the transaction.

📌 Hyatt Hotels Corp. to acquire Standard International for a base price of $150 million, with potential $185 million in additional payments. The deal will add 21 hotels with about 2,000 rooms to Hyatt's portfolio, including The Standard, London and High Line in NYC. Amar Lalvani, Standard International's executive chairman, to lead the new dedicated lifestyle group in NYC. Hyatt has made several recent acquisitions, including Mr & Mrs Smith for £53 million in April 2023. The Standard International deal, expected to close later this year, includes more than 30 signed or intended projects. Moelis & Company LLC and Venable LLP serve as advisors to Hyatt.

🙌 Nando's offers a Level 2 Hospitality Team Member Apprenticeship for individuals over 16 in England, with a 15-month syllabus including customer service and leadership training. Launched last year, the 'Hospitality Heroes' program received 114 applicants and those now over halfway will graduate in 2023. Apprentices earn full-time salaries with benefits like free meals, up to 40% discount, and a paid sabbatical after five years. The initiative, partnered with Lifetime Training, aims to develop future managers within Nando’s.

🏨 Hyatt Hotels Corporation sold the 1,641-room Hyatt Regency Orlando and 45 acres of land to RIDA Development Corporation and an Ares Management Real Estate fund for $1.07 billion, retaining a long-term management agreement. Transaction includes $265 million of non-controlling preferred equity and $50 million of seller financing. The sale contributes to Hyatt's $2.6 billion proceeds from their asset-disposition strategy. A new Grand Hyatt hotel is planned on the adjacent land, expecting around 2,500 rooms and will be part of a combined total of over 4,000 guestrooms with Hyatt Regency Orlando.

💰 Blackstone acquires majority stake in M3, a hospitality accounting software provider, with investment terms undisclosed. AAHOA, representing 20,000 U.S. hotel owners, joins as a strategic investor. The partnership aims to enhance operational efficiency for AAHOA's members. M3, founded in 1998, offers cloud-based accounting solutions to over 8,000 North American hotels and boasts a 95% retention rate. Blackstone manages over $1 trillion in assets. Legal counsel for the deal included Carlton Fields, P.A., Houlihan Lokey, Evercore, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

🏨 Zleep Hotels, a Denmark-based hotel company, merges with Core Hospitality, becoming Denmark's fourth-largest hotel operator. The merger follows Zleep's split from H World International, which now owns the Zleep brand, while Core Hospitality owns Danish operations. Post-merger, Core Hospitality manages 19 hotels with 2,288 rooms across five brands, including 14 Zleep Hotels in Denmark, two Moxy Hotels in Norway, and three Marriott properties in Copenhagen and Vejle. Core Hospitality has two hotels in the pipeline, adding 340 rooms. Zleep recently opened its first Swiss hotel in Lucerne.

🏖 Noble Investment Group acquired the Courtyard by Marriott Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront in Atlanta, Georgia, and will enhance all guestrooms, public areas, and meeting spaces. Jacksonville, known for its business-friendly environment and recreational activities, provides access to demand generators like the Mayo Clinic and Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Florida HQ. Dustin Fisher of Noble Investment sees Jacksonville as a city poised to outperform the broader economy.

🏨 Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, acquired Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, Fla., part of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts Legend Collection. The London-based Lewis Trust Group bought the hotel in 2003 for $67.5 million when it was a Ritz-Carlton and rebranded it to Eau Palm Beach in 2013. The property has received Forbes Five-Star recognition for nine consecutive years. No sale price was disclosed for Ellison’s purchase, and the hotel was originally established as La Coquille Club in the 1950s. Ellison plans to invest in further upgrades.

🏨 BWH Hotels, as of March 31, 2024, boasts a global presence of 3,899 properties with 2,113 located in the U.S. The company offers a rewards program, including Best Western Rewards® and WorldHotels Rewards℠. Franchising since as early as 1946 for Best Western®, they have a variety of brands across chain scales from economy to luxury, each with specific franchising fees such as a $49,000 application fee for Aiden® and royalty rates like 5% of GRR for Best Western Premier®. The total rooms in the system across brands reach numbers like 127,209 for Best Western® and 3,185 for Aiden®.

🏦 West Virginia Governor Jim Justice's luxury resort, The Greenbrier, faces auction on August 27th amid unpaid debts. Located in White Sulpher Springs, W.Va., the resort features 700-plus rooms, four golf courses, a casino, a medical spa, and is staffed by thousands of local workers. The Justice family pledges to fight the sale, following JPMorgan's loan sale to Beltway Capital and subsequent default declaration. The resort was purchased by Justice in May 2009, after CSX Corporation filed for bankruptcy. Governor Justice, in office since 2017, is also running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2024.