Icamap, the fund management company founded in 2014 by former Unibail-Rodamco CEO Guillaume Poitrinal, has become the major shareholder in budget hotel chain Easyhotel by taking part in the company's £50 mln (€56 mln) capital increase.
Under the deal, Icamap has raised its stake from 29.9% previously to 38.7% at present.
EasyGroup Holdings, a company of EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is the second largest shareholder with a 26% stake. Haji-Ioannou set up Easyhotel in 2004.
Harm Meijer, one of the founding partners of Icamap, will become a non-executive member of the board of
directors following the deal.
European expansion
The placing will enable EasyHotel to accelerate its development across Europe, the company said. The hotel and real estate group owns, operates and franchises 26 hotels and nearly 2,350 rooms in European major cities. Another 15 hotels and nearly 2,050 rooms are planned for opening in 2018 and 2019 in the cities of Barcelona, Sheffield, Leeds, Ipswich, Cardiff, Milton Keynes and Oxford.
Poitrinal said his company was pleased to be able to contribute to the expansion of 'one of the finest super-budget hotel concepts on the market'. 'EasyHotel will be able to count on our efforts to support the growth of its network in the largest European cities for the years to come.'
Guy Parsons, CEO of EasyHotel added: 'With the addition of this new capital and the confidence of our shareholders, we will continue the acceleration of our owned hotel development pipeline, allowing us to take advantage of the significant opportunities within our markets, delivering enhanced returns for our shareholders and underpinning the long-term growth of the EasyHotel brand.'
