JLL advises €145m sale of easyHotel Benelux

JLL has advised Xcentric Hotels BV, an affiliated business of Crossroads Real Estate, on the successful sale of its easyHotel Benelux portfolio to long-term franchisor easyHotel Ltd. The deal, worth approximately €145m, includes eight hotels across five locations: Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Maastricht and Brussels.

With growing demand for affordable hotel accommodation in the region, the acquisition of easyHotel Benelux is a strategic move for easyHotel Ltd. As well as the eight hotels covering 793 rooms, the deal includes a management platform and the easyHotel Benelux master franchise agreement. A new loan facility has been agreed with the incumbent lender, demonstrating their confidence in the business and long term commitment. 

JLL acted as the exclusive sell-side M&A advisor for Xcentric Hotels BV, an affiliated business of Crossroads Real Estate, a European real estate private equity and special situations fund manager. JLL was first appointed in 2019 to provide strategic advice in regard to various exit strategies of the platform, continued to provide ongoing advice throughout the pandemic and refinancing, and eventually placed the deal with the buyer as part of a targeted sale process.

“This sale re-confirms that strategic deals continue to appeal to investors, despite the changing global headwinds we are facing, said Jurrian Dompeling, Senior Vice President, EMEA Hotel Capital Markets at JLL. “The portfolio has demonstrated exceptionally strong trading performance in recent years, including resilience during the pandemic and a rapid recovery in 2022. We wish easyHotel Ltd all the best with further growing the business across Europe.”

David Gillerman, CEO of Crossroads Real Estate, said: “Following a longstanding franchise agreement with easyHotel Ltd, Crossroads is delighted with the success and growth across this portfolio of eight very well situated hotels, especially its performance since the end of the pandemic. We would like to thank all of the employees of easyHotel Benelux for their hard work during their time with us and wish them all the best for the future with easyHotel Ltd. We would also like to thank JLL for their support during the process.” 

“Now is an exciting time to be part of the easyHotel business,” commented easyHotel CEO Karim Malak. “We’re delivering our growth plan to increase our presence in Europe and the transaction is a fantastic demonstration of our intentions. It comes at a time we are seeing strong trading across both our UK portfolio and the Benelux hotels, with figures exceeding 2019 levels and outperforming the market. Our pipeline is in a strong position for us to continue to develop and grow the easyHotel brand. We look forward to continuing to provide our customers with affordable hotel stays and growing the easyHotel brand both through acquisitions and organic development, whether freehold, leasehold or franchise” 

Xcentric Hotels was advised by JLL (M&A), Goodwin Procter and DLA Piper (Legal) and Deloitte (Financial/Tax). 

easyHotel Ltd was advised by Loyens & Loeff (Legal/Tax), CMS (Legal) and PwC (Financial).