PRESS RELEASE

ActivumSG Fund Acquires Hotel Operator Odyssey to Accelerate Platform’s Growth in Europe

14th January 2021

  • Odyssey is the second corporate acquisition by ActivumSG’s latest fund
  • Hotel industry’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic in select markets is one of the key investment themes for ActivumSG Real Estate Fund VI

(Jersey) 14th January, 2021 – The newest fund established by ActivumSG Capital Management, which focuses on turnaround and special opportunity investments in real estate, has acquired hotel operator Odyssey Hotel Group. The investment will support the Odyssey platform’s rapid expansion while benefiting from the recovery ActivumSG anticipates for select parts of the hospitality sector in Europe as the Covid-19 pandemic recedes.

Saul Goldstein, CEO and Founder of ActivumSG, said: “We’re looking to accelerate the company’s growth through acquisitions and more hotel openings when others will still be picking up the pieces. We see the steady recovery of leisure and business travel in Europe’s most resilient hotel markets as a major opportunity for our latest fund. This corporate deal highlights how we look at every angle, so our investors get the best risk-adjusted exposure to strong investment themes.”

The purchase, details of which are not being disclosed, is the second corporate acquisition by ActivumSG Real Estate Fund VI after that of Dutch residential developer VanWonen, almost a year ago. It also follows the purchase of the luxury Nobu Hotel in Barcelona on 31st December.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Breda, the Netherlands, Odyssey focuses on opening and operating hotels in underserved mid-sized towns and cities in continental Europe. It currently operates 12 hotels in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland mostly under franchise agreements with Marriott Group and IHG.

The company already has a pipeline of 20 more hotels scheduled to open before the end of 2024, which will lift the number of guest rooms it operates to more than 5,200 from 1,940 today. These include two hotel openings planned for Austria and one in Spain.

Odyssey CEO Rick van Erp, said: “The Activum fund’s support will allow us to scale up our platform and penetrate new markets in Europe, broadening the footprint of our major hotel brand partners. We are looking ahead with confidence at a post-Covid landscape for the hospitality sector, which will present opportunities for those operators with the liquidity, agility and industry expertise to benefit most from the recovery.”

Advising ActivumSG Real Estate Fund VI on the transaction were JLL and Greenberg & Traurig, while Adelaer Group and Stibbe were advisers to Odyssey.