Auberge Resorts had fallen behind schedule this year on its objective to expand its presence to the East Coast of the United States and to Europe. It solved that problem on Thursday by announcing a strategic partnership with London-based Libra Group to bring its five Grace hotels into the Auberge Resorts Collection portfolio.
In the next 90 days, Auberge will rebrand and begin to manage the existing hotels with a total of only 142 rooms and eventually six other Grace properties under development (including Athens, Kalamata, Kea and a second resort in Santorini, Greece; Marrakech, Morocco; and St. Moritz, Switzerland). Libra will take a strategic interest in Auberge Resorts Collection, establishing a relationship between two family-owned companies.
Libra’s current portfolio includes luxury properties in Europe such as the Grace Santorini, as well as in the United States, where it has owned and operated the Mayflower Inn & Spa in the Connecticut countryside.
“We came up with a short list of companies in both geographies to try to pick up a small portfolio,” Auberge Resorts CEO Craig Reid told HOTELS in an exclusive Wednesday interview. “We came up with five groups, and Grace was one of them. We approached the Logothetis family, built trust and comfort, explored opportunities, and it became clear to both companies we would provide value to each other.”
Perhaps even more important for Mill Valley, California-based Auberge with 12 hotels open (938 rooms) and six more in development, the deal was seen from the outset as giving the niche luxury player two new geographic platforms to use as a foundation to accelerate growth. “We want to leverage the platforms and opportunities to create more critical mass in both geographies,” Reid said.
With this deal, which Reid said Auberge will absorb in stride without creating a big distraction, the company is quickly approaching 30 properties (more when you include unannounced pipeline) – and he hopes it leads to even more small portfolio deals.
“We feel the timing is very good,” he added. “Our niche, one-of-a-kind small luxury, for the most part is not that consolidated, and traditional brands struggle to deliver. Our thought is to continue to provide expertise in this niche, and not many players have the scale and number of properties we have open and under development.”
Other deal details
- Auberge is taking a majority ownership of three U.S. properties in return for Libra’s “meaningful” minority strategic investment in Auberge.
- Auberge Chairman Dan Friedkin remains majority owner and key influencer. Libra will provide guidance but Auberge will provide governance.
- For most part, Grace senior executives will be moving out. Auberge will keep a small group from the senior team, as well as two regional teams.
- With further expansion in mind, Auberge will expand its team in New York City, as well as build out a team in London.
