Aman Looking to Raise Up to $2B for Global Expansion

Vlad Doronin is on the hunt for as much as $2 billion as he seeks to expand the Aman Group’s global reach.

Aman is in discussions with its bankers over how to structure its latest fundraising campaign, Bloomberg reported. Aman is hoping to secure funds from both institutional investors and wealthy individuals.

The fundraising campaign is not expected to end until early next year. Doronin will use the funds to support the 23 hotel projects already underway across the world, as well as expand the luxury Aman Residences brand.

“We are working to expand the brand and we’re working with different investment funds and in negotiation with a few different groups,” Doronin said in an interview. “We’re looking for good, solid partners.”

Among the projects Doronin has in the works are $39 million mansions in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, a pair of luxury buildings in Dubai with 39 apartments each and a 150-key hotel in Dubai’s financial district. There are another 39 projects in the pre-development phase, which are yet to be officially announced.

Doronin is aiming to expand further into the Middle East and Africa, in addition to creating more hotels under the Janu brand, which caters to younger customers by taking away some of the seclusion aspects of the Aman brand.

Three years ago, Aman raised $900 million from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and London-based Cain International. That gave the company a $3 billion valuation, at the time. Mubadala Capital and Alpha Wave Ventures — a joint venture of Alpha Wave Capital and Chimera Capital — chipping in $360 million a year later.

Aman Residences has sold $5.7 billion worth of properties in the past three years. At the start of the year, Doronin traded the final unit at his luxury hotel-condo conversion known as Aman New York for more than $11,400 per square foot.

While the $66 million sale was down from the $79 million asking price specified on the developer’s offering plan, it still marked a sellout for the property.

— Holden Walter-Warner