Standard Hotels Has a New Major Investor From Thailand
Skift Take
Foreign investment in U.S.-based hotel companies is a trend that continues. Even more interesting here is that Sansiri is also choosing to invest in so many other diverse businesses. How they plan to bring all those investments together eventually should be interesting to watch.
Standard International, the parent company behind Standard Hotels and Bunkhouse Group, as well as the last-minute booking app, One Night, has a new major investor.
Sansiri Public Company Ltd., a Bangkok-based real estate developer, is investing $58 million into Standard International and One Night, securing a 35 percent stake in the company. That's part of an overall $80 million investment in a handful of technology and lifestyle companies, Sansiri announced Wednesday.
The remaining $22 million will be spread out among four other businesses, although Sansiri didn't divulge exact breakdowns in the investments: home rental management service Hostmaker; Tyler Brûlé's influential Monocle media company; Southeast Asia-based co-working company JustCo; and Farmshelf, a "smart" indoor farm maker.
With Monocle, in particular, Sansiri hopes to launch a co-branded mixed-use residential concept in Bangkok by next year.
The 33-year-old company labels itself as Thailand's only full-service real estate developer, and it does more than $1.2 billion in sales volume annually. It also has a large presence in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan, and expects to do $360 million in sales volume in 2017 in these regions.
It's clear that with this diverse range of investments that the company has much more global ambitions in mind as it expands into a "world-class modern living platform," as described by Srettha Thavisin, Sansiri's president.
"This involves taking Sansiri to the next level as a global brand, ensuring we are at the forefront of tech and innovation, transforming ourselves for the future, and creating a synergistic environment for our
