Founder's investment firm takes back 35% stake after 17 years; growing Munich-based, budget-minded brand focused on further expansion and public listing.
Germany's Motel One Founder Deiter Mueller again has control
of the budget hotel chain with his investment firm and majority partner One
Hotels and Resorts GmbH buying back Proprium Capital Partners' 35% stake for €1.25
billion ($1.36 billion). One Hotels and Resorts will spin off the hotels with
plans to take the company to the public market.
The deal that closed on April 2 values Motel One at €4.1
billion ($4.46 billion). It currently runs 94 hotels (26,470 rooms) in 13 countries,
has a pipeline of 23 hotels and plans to open seven properties this year. The Munich-based
hotelier also announced earlier this year that it planned to open 13 new hotels
from its Cloud One lifestyle brand by 2026, including hotels in Chicago and
Miami.
In 2023, Motel One generated revenue of €852 million and EBITDA
of €281 million.
Proprium invested €65 million in 2007 as part of a capital
increase and The Financial Times reported that this investment had increased
over 20-fold, including dividend payments.
Proprium’s head of Europe, Philipp Westermann, said in a
statement: “While the sale of our stake in Motel One will generate very
attractive returns for our investors, we leave Motel One very well-positioned
with an enormous potential for future growth. The investment in Motel One
exemplifies Proprium’s commitment to platform investing, aimed at delivering
outsized private equity returns within the real estate industry.”