Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund has acquired a 25 percent equity stake in CitizenM, a chain of 15 boutique hotels based in the Netherlands.
CitizenM said the undisclosed investment gives the hotel company an enterprise value of €2 billion, according to the Financial Times.
Founded in 2008, CitizenM targets business travelers seeking short stays and was the first hotel company to list properties on Airbnb, the popular vacation rental platform. Last year, the group opened its second boutique hotel in New York. The hotel group has three locations planned for Miami. Other U.S. cities where CitizenM has opened hotels include Boston and Seattle.
Rattan Chadha, founder and executive chairman of CitizenM, said 15 potential investors, mostly from North America, showed interest in acquiring a major equity stake in the company. GIC won out due to its experience in hospitality, the Times reported.
Last year, the fund joined a consortium that paid €4.4 billion for a majority equity stake in the real estate arm of European hotel group, Accor. Close to a fifth of GIC’s $100-billion investment portfolio consists of real estate and private equity.
The deal comes as another Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings, is in talks to buy Eastdil Secured from Wells Fargo. [FT] – Mike Seemuth