InterContinental Hotels Group is expanding its reach in the luxury sector with a $300 million takeover of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas.
Six Senses manages 16 hotels and resorts with a combined 1,347 rooms and has 18 management contracts in its development pipeline.
The properties include two for the upscale resort brand, Evason.
The Six Senses deal takes IHG’s portfolio of open and pipeline luxury hotels to 400 with 108,000 rooms worldwide.
IHG expects to accelerate Six Senses’ growth globally to more than 60 hotels over the next ten years with 50 deals under “active discussion”.
This includes bringing Six Senses to cities, with a property already under construction in Manhattan, New York City.
The cash acquisition from Pegasus Capital Advisors includes all of Six Senses’ brands and operating companies and does not include any real estate assets.
Six Senses has properties in destinations such as the Maldives, Seychelles, Yao Noi in Thailand, Zighy Bay in Oman and Portugal’s Douro Valley.
The deal follows IHG’s recent acquisition and repositioning of Regent Hotels & Resorts and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.
IHG chief executive Keith Barr said: “Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top-tier of luxury and one we’ve admired for some time.
“You only have to look at its iconic hotels and resorts to see how this acquisition will further round out our luxury offer.
“With a focus on wellness and sustainability, Six Senses has been voted the world’s top hotel brand for the past two years, which is testament to its impressive management team who bring deep experience to IHG’s luxury operations.
“Six Senses’ attractive development pipeline provides us with a platform for high quality growth. With the power of the IHG enterprise, we believe we can expand Six Senses to more than 60 properties globally over the next decade.
“This acquisition continues the progress we’ve made against the strategic initiatives we outlined a year ago, which included a commitment to adding new brands in the fast-growing $60 billion luxury segment.”
Six Senses CEO Neil Jacobs added: “An outstanding business has been built over the past 20 years, and a respected portfolio of hotels and resorts, with wellness and sustainability at their heart.
“This distinct proposition and the popularity of our award-winning estate, combined with IHG’s scale, systems and expertise gives us the opportunity to accelerate Six Senses’ global growth.”
David Cogut, principal at Pegasus Capital Advisors, said: “Six Senses fit well with our core themes of investing in sustainability and wellness with a focus on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) integration, and we’re proud of the work we have done to build it into one of the world’s best luxury hotel brands.
“Since acquiring the brand in 2012, we have taken the Six Senses experience to some of the world’s most select locations.
“IHG shares many of our values and will protect what’s special about the brand as it drives Six Senses’ next phase of growth.”
