AccorHotels Is Buying Half of SBE Entertainment Group for $319 Million
Skift Take
This AccorHotels investment in SBE aligns with its strategy for growth in North America as it adds more properties in key cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Miami. It does, though, contradict, in some respects, the chain's push to go asset-light.
French hospitality company AccorHotels is expanding its foothold in the U.S. by acquiring a 50 percent stake in lifestyle hotel and restaurant company, SBE Entertainment Group, owner of Morgans Hotel Group, for $319 million.
AccorHotels plans to acquire the common stock held by Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies and the real-estate investment firm Cain International for $125 million, and invest an additional $194 million to acquire preferred equity that is also owned by Yucaipa and Cain. If Ron Burkle's name sounds familiar, that's because the former grocery store magnate is also an investor in another lifestyle hospitality company, the Sydell Group, whose hotel brands include Freehand, the Line, and NoMad.
SBE founder and CEO Sam Nazarian will continue to run SBE independently from its global headquarters in New York, and will own the remaining 50 percent of the company. SBE's hotel brands include SLS, Delano, Mondrian, Hyde, and the Red
