Meininger Hotels is reported to be planning a £300m-plus flotation on AIM in London, which if successful would value the business at €400m after failing to sell the group last year.
The Times reported that Zeus Capital has been appointed to advise it on an Aim listing within the next four to six weeks.
Meininger is an international hybrid hotel operator, that provides a low-cost, attractive and modern accommodation service throughout Europe. It markets its product on both a per room and per bed basis, aiming to appeal to a wide clientele, from school groups and families to backpackers, city tourists and business travellers. The group does not own its hotels’ freeholds, instead deploying a capital light roll-out strategy, where landlords contribute to the upfront capital commitment of converting a site into a Meininger in return for a long lease backed by a strong rent cover.
Founded in Germany in 1999, its first hotel was on Meininger Street in Berlin. Today it has 30 hotels with a 4,700 rooms and 16,600 beds. As well as Germany, it has a presence in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark plus one in London. The group’s bed occupancy rate is c.74% (Industry standard is <50%) and its room occupancy is c.90% (industry standard is 77%).
Meininger’s latest results for the year to 31 March 2019 saw it report revenues of £98.1 million and Ebitda of £16.5m. Meininger, under its CEO Hannes Spanring, has more than doubled the room count since 2016 and its strategy, after floating, is to triple the number of beds in five years, mostly outside Germany and this requires no more capital to achieve this.
Last year saw Meininger sign on its first hotel in Israel, a 210-room, 800-bed site in Tel Aviv, due to open in 2024. Spanring said: “We are the first internationally operating hospitality company to bring the hybrid hotel concept to the Middle East. Although the city's supply has grown immensely over the last 10 years, accommodation in the hostel, economy and budget segments is severely under-represented.”