EasyGroup, the company behind Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s ‘easy’ family of brands, has agreed to sell budget hotel chain EasyHotel to real estate investment management company Tristan Capital Partners.
Tristan is taking over EasyHotel’s outstanding share capital for €196.13 million (about $222 million). When added to its prior stake, the transaction values the brand at around €242 million ($274 million).
Last August, Skift reported that EasyHotel was “exploring various strategic options, including a possible sale. Speculation had placed the potential valuation as high as $500 million, significantly higher than the ultimate deal value.
The deal still represents growth from 2019 when EasyHotel chose to delist from London’s AIM exchange. At that time, investment firms ICAMAP and Ivanhoé Cambridge (the real estate division of CDPQ) acquired a majority stake in a deal that valued the company at about $170 million. They took the company private in 2020.
The Tristan deal also includes the 17% stake held by EasyHotel founder Haji-Ioannou and his family, who are fully relinquishing their ownership. Haji-Ioannou founded EasyHotel in 2004.
While EasyHotel didn’t grow as comparably large as the airline EasyJet did, Haji-Ioannou may still see a long-term gain from the brand. His EasyGroup will continue to license the EasyHotel.com brand to the company in exchange for “a reasonable royalty.”
A Bet on Budget Hotels
Tristan Capital Partners, a London-based real estate investment management company with over €15 billion in assets under management, has been expanding its hospitality portfolio in recent years, particularly in the budget hotel segment.
In April 2022, Tristan acquired a majority stake in Point A Hotels for around £420 million ($560 million), with plans to double its portfolio across the UK and Ireland.
The firm also provided a €165 million (about $187 million) senior financing package to the Paris-based Centaurus Group in April 2024 to support its 43-hotel portfolio. In October 2021, it acquired a 261-key hotel in Manchester, UK, that was rebranded as Yotel.
Future Growth?
Today, EasyHotel operates approximately 50 hotels with 4,900 rooms across 13 European countries, including the UK, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. The portfolio comprises 32 owned and leased hotels and 17 franchised properties.
New hotels are set to open in Spain in 2025 and 2026, including properties in Alicante, Madrid, and Barcelona, which will complement existing locations in Barcelona and Málaga.
Accommodations Sector Stock Index Performance Year-to-Date
What am I looking at? The performance of hotels and short-term rental sector stocks within the ST200. The index includes companies publicly traded across global markets, including international and regional hotel brands, hotel REITs, hotel management companies, alternative accommodations, and timeshares.
The Skift Travel 200 (ST200)Â combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. See more hotels and short-term rental financial sector performance.
Read the full methodology behind the Skift Travel 200.
