Hong Kong-based conglomerate Jardine Matheson is buying the remaining shares of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group it doesn’t own and taking it private at a valuation of $4.2 billion. News of the deal was first reported by Bloomberg.
Jardine was one of the original Hong Kong trading houses that date back to Imperial China. It was founded in 1832. In a statement to Reuters, Jardines said that acquiring the full interest in Mandarin Oriental “will allow it to better support the hotel group’s growth and streamline its portfolio.”
Mandarin Oriental operates 44 hotels, 12 residences and 26 luxury homes across 27 countries and territories. Last month, Mandarin Oriental announced the introduction of Mandarin Oriental Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, the group’s first dedicated golf resort with branded residences and its third property in the city. It is expeted to open in 2030.
Other recent announcements include a forthcoming hotel in Seoul in 2030 and later this month it will open a 138-room hotel in Vienna.
The deal, Reuters writes, coincides with Mandarin Oriental’s agreement to sell the top 13 floors of its flagship hotel in Hong Kong to Alibaba Group and Chinese financial technology company Ant Group for $925 million.
Jardine’s offer for the remaining 11.96% stake is priced at $3.35 per share, comprising $2.75 in cash and a special dividend of $0.60 per share funded by the Hong Kong property sale. The transaction will be financed through cash and committed facilities. The total represents a 52% premium to the stock’s last unaffected price of $2.20 on Sept. 29, the day before Mandarin Oriental disclosed it was considering a possible sale of part of its interest in One Causeway Bay, according to the announcement.
The buyout, Jardine said, would lead to Mandarin Oriental’s delisting from the Singapore stock exchange.
Jardine’s executive chairman is Ben Keswick, who has been with the company since 2019. It lists six other companies in its portfolio along with Mandarin Oriental. In its results for the six months ending June 30, 2025, it reported underlying net profit up 45% to US$798 million. In the span, Mandarin Oriental added four new hotels to its portfolio and bolstered its European presence in April with the opening of Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris and took over the management of The Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam. In June, the group announced the management takeovers of properties in Venice and Malaysia. It
also announced new management contracts in Puerto Rico and Suzhou, China in the period.
As part of its capital recycling strategy, the group completed the disposal of its 25% stake in its Miami hotel and agreed to the sale of its Munich hotel, which is expected to complete by the end of 2025.
The Mandarin Oriental brand was established in 1985 following the merger of Mandarin International Hotels Limited and the holding company of The Oriental Hotel, in which Mandarin had already acquired a 49% stake in in 1974. Mandarin’s history dates back to the 1963 opening of its namesake hotel The Mandarin, now Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong. The Oriental, now Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, opened in 1876, notably as the Kingdom of Siam’s first luxury hotel.