Yotel checks in for global growth with $250m private equity backing

Yotel, the hotel brand founded by YO! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe’s has bagged private equity backing for its international expansion plans.

Starwood Capital is set to take a 30 per cent stake in the business in exchange for $250m (£185m), funding a push in the European, North American and Asian markets.

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The Bank of Merrill Lynch advised Starwood on the transaction.

Starwood has already secured sites in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Amsterdam which are expected to open as Yotels by 2019.

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Additions to the Yotel board as part of the deal include Starwood’s head of European hotels and representatives of the firm’s major shareholders.

Yotel chairman Talal Al Bahar said: “We are delighted to announce a new institutional investor into YOTEL alongside our existing shareholders. Starwood Capital Group’s investment validates the company’s strategy, provides strength and stability at a critical expansion stage and opens up new horizons for YOTEL to become the leading affordable luxury hotel brand.”

Yotel currently operates four airport hotels under the YotelAir brand in London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris, Charles de Gaulle airports. This is in addition to three city hotels in New York, Boston and Singapore.

Sites currently under development include San Francisco, London Clerkenwell, Dubai, Edinburgh, Miami and Amsterdam.

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