London-based PE firm Henderson Park has acquired the business and hotel management platform of Amaris Hospitality from LRC Group, London, and simultaneously launched a new dedicated hotel and asset management platform with 30 hotels called Klarent Hospitality. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition follows Henderson Park’s November acquisition of a 2,424-key portfolio of 12 Hilton-branded hotels managed by Amaris Hospitality. The Amaris Hospitality name and brand does not form part of the acquisition and will continue to be owned by LRC Group.
By acquiring the Amaris business, along with its deep sectoral knowledge and experience of transforming, rebranding and managing hotels, is highly complementary to Henderson Park’s investment and asset management expertise and will allow it to launch at scale a dedicated hotel operating platform.
Klarent Hospitality will be led by the existing Amaris management team under Peter Stack and John Brennan, the current chief executive and chairman, respectively. All Amaris Hospitality employees will transition to Klarent Hospitality and continue in their current roles.
The hospitality sector remains one of Henderson Park’s conviction asset classes, having made a number of significant acquisitions, including several hotels across Europe, in the last few years. Henderson Park’s portfolio now comprises c. 9,300 rooms across the U.K., as well as Greece, France, Ireland and Spain.
In total, the firm has invested approximately US$13 billion in building a portfolio of flagship real estate assets across Europe, with a presence in major cities and capitals in France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the U.K.
John Brennan and Peter Stack, who have over 70 years’ combined experience in the hospitality sector, led the creation of Amaris Hospitality in 2015, which consolidated nearly 100 hotels in the U.K. and Ireland. After a £100 million (US$132 million) capital expenditure program, 22 hotel rebrands, significant enhancements to product and customer experiences, and a program to drive superior operational performance, growing investor demand triggered the sale of the Jurys Inn hotel group to Pandox in 2017. Subsequently, LRC acquired the Amaris Hospitality business and its remaining hotel assets in 2018.
“This new business will be integral to helping us drive further value for our investors from our hospitality assets,” said Nick Weber, founding partner of Henderson Park. “We have long admired the Amaris Hospitality business model and track record, as well as the quality and expertise of its team. We now look forward to working with John, Peter and the Klarent team to capitalize on the opportunities emerging in the hospitality sector in the near-term, as well as from the wider post-pandemic recovery in the coming years.”