Goldman mulls €3B-plus offers for B&B: Report

PARIS — Two private equity firms have submitted bids of more than €3 billion for the France-based budget hotel chain, B&B Hotels, according to multiple reports.

The reports said New York City-based KKR and Luxembourg-based CVC have both made offers to B&B Hotels’ owner, Goldman Sachs, ranging from €3.2 to €3.3 billion. That would be a significant increase from the €1.9 billion Goldman paid for the company in 2019.

France-based PE firm PAI Partners, which sold B&B Hotels to Goldman in 2019, is also reportedly in the running. According to the reports, Goldman has hoped to get €3.5 for the company.

B&B Hotels currently manages 650 hotels, including 352 in France and 153 in Germany, as well as properties in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria, Poland and Brazil.

The company entered the U.S. lodging space this spring and intends to advance in the domestic market by keeping the same business model that works in Europe. According to Valerio Duchini, the international budget chain’s U.S. president and CEO, triple-net leases and scooping up distressed properties are the core of building success in the States.

Hotel Investment Today asked Duchini about the sale and he deferred to B&B corporate in France, where a spokesperson declined to comment. How or if any such transaction could affect B&B’s U.S. plans is unknown.

One of B&B’s investment partners, Delaware-based Batipart Immo US 4 Inc., bought two hotels over four months ago. In March, it acquired its initial U.S. property, the 218-key Floridian Express International Drive Hotel in Orlando, from a private owner for an undisclosed price. In June, it added the three-story, 170-room Diamond Inn Motel Jacksonville West in Jacksonville for approximately $11 million.

Last week, B&B purchased five hotels in the U.K. to further its expansion. The company purchased the Pentahotel hotels in Inverness, Scotland, and three more hotels in Birmingham, Warrington and Ipswich in England. The company said the Pentahotel hotels will undergo a light renovation before operating as B&B Hotels but will remain open. B&B plans to open 100 hotels in the U.K. by 2035.