As the International Hotel Investment Forum began in Berlin, European hotel management and advisory company Michels & Taylor announced that it has completed a strategic partnership agreement with Freo Group, the European real estate investment and asset-management business.
The deal allows M&T to utilize the investment resources of Freo. At the same time, Freo, which has acquired 25 percent of M&T’s shares as part of the agreement, will have access to M&T's hotel platform.
M&T's services include hotel management, advisory, asset management and brand selection, and now will be able to join its current and future clients in active investment opportunities as well as sourcing with Freo and its investment partners its own acquisitions.
“Having successfully grown all areas of our businesses in recent years, we have managed to build a well-respected and substantive hotel platform upon which our client base has been able to rely over the past few years,” David Michels, chairman of M&T, said in a statement. “This deal with Freo allows us to continue to develop our core businesses for our clients but now with real investment resources behind us.”
“Freo believes that expertise in managed real estate is critical for future development and asset management,” said Andrew Hunter, managing director of Freo Management (UK). “Hotel operations is a very important part of this and we are privileged to be able to enter into a strategic partnership with the class leading group of M&T. This relationship will open up significant opportunities for Freo and its investment partners across the full value chain of hotels, from initial feasibility through delivery to long term operation.”
AHV Associates LLP, the boutique investment bank in the hospitality sector, initiated the partnership discussions and advised Freo on the transaction.