European property investment firm buys easyHotel brand which includes Belfast site
The hotels owned by the chain, founded as part of the 'easy' group best known for the budget airline, will now be owned and managed by European property investment business Tristan Capital Partners.
The private equity company now owns sites including the easyHotel on Belfast's Howard Street, and says it plans to 'materially expand' the business.
The Belfast location opened in 2018 after a £5m renovation of the 200-year-old Dax building.
The chain, which was founded in 2004, now operates close to 5,000 rooms across nearly 50 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Europe.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, creator and owner of the 'easy' brands, said: 'I would like to personally thank our friends at ICAMAP and Ivanhoe Cambridge for believing and investing in the easy brand and I wish them well with their future ventures.
'As is normal with the cycle of private equity funds, the time has come for them to sell their shares to a new owner. Today we welcome within the easy family of brands Tristan Capital Partners, a highly respected real estate investment specialist as the new owners of easyHotel.com.
'The fact that this is the second set of professional investors with deep pockets that will own easyHotel.com brings tremendous validation of both the success of the business model of easyHotel.com and also the business model of easyGroup that created and continues to nurture the easy family of brands.
'Tristan recognised in their bid that the easy brand values are of vital importance to their future business growth model. We look forward to their plans of significantly accelerating its geographical expansion across Europe.'
Kristian Smyth, managing director of investments at Tristan Capital Partners, said: 'Tristan's Funds have established a leading presence in the European budget hotel sector, with this transaction bringing the total committed hotel investments to in excess of €1bn to date.
'The budget hotel sector forms a core part of Tristan's European investment theses, reflecting the firm's conviction in the long-term growth potential of this under-represented sector.
'The easyHotel brand perfectly complements our growing platform through its incredibly strong brand recognition with a product that offers compelling value in centrally located destinations.
'We expect to materially expand the existing footprint of the platform and build on our thematic, operationally driven approach.'
Alexandre Aquien, chairman of easyHotel and co-founder of ICAMAP, said: 'As the outgoing shareholders of easyHotel, we would like to thank Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou for our journey together.
'We are very proud of our successful partnership which has led to the substantial transformation of easyHotel. We are also grateful for the strong performance of easyHotel's management team and dedicated employees and are confident they will continue to be successful under their new owners.'
Karim Malak, CEO of easyHotel, said: 'As a well-established and recognised brand across Europe, and part of the easy family, we remain committed to offering guests great value and low-carbon hotels.
'Over the past five years, our majority shareholders, ICAMAP and Ivanhoé Cambridge, have been instrumental in fuelling our growth.
'Now EPISO 6, a discretionary fund advised by Tristan Capital Partner, prepares to become our new shareholder, we are excited to build on this momentum.
'Their additional resources and sector expertise will support our expansion at a time when we are seeing a record number of enquiries from potential partners eager to open new easyHotels.
'Together, we look forward to strengthening our offering, growing our portfolio and welcoming even more guests to our great-value, low-carbon hotels.'
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