Capsule-style hotel chain Yotel is poised for global expansion after attracting a $250 million investment from Starwood Capital.
The US investment firm is acquiring a 30% stake in the business established by Yo! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe.
The group, which opened its first property a decade ago, has four airport hotels at Gatwick, Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle, plus three city hotels in New York, Boston and Singapore.
The expansion will focus on Europe, North America and Asia and it has secured city centre sites in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Amsterdam that are due to open as Yotels by 2019.
Other properties are in the pipeline at Singapore’s Changi airport and in San Francisco, Dubai, Miami and Clerkenwell, London.
The company is also seeking oter opportunities in Milan, Dublin, Barcelona and London, The Times reported.
Yotel’s main existing shareholders are Jassim Al-Bahar Group, of Kuwait; the Dubai-based IFA Hotels & Resorts; United Investments Portugal; and Aqarat, a Kuwaiti property company.
The four investors, accounting for a combined 65% of the equity, are all linked to each other.