£715M Listed Company Is Latest To Eye Deal With Private Equity
The two largest shareholders in London-listed PPHE Hotel Group are set to hold talks with investors about new investment in the company or selling part of their stakes.
The company’s shares trade at a 37% discount to the net value of its assets, and PPHE is the latest in a string of listed firms to explore outside investment or a sale this year as their stock performed sluggishly.
Eli Papouchado and Boris Ivesha own a combined 44% of the shares in PPHE, which has a market capitalisation of £715M and owns and operates a 51-strong portfolio of hotels valued at £2.2B across eight European countries.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that the pair are considering options for the company, including working with private equity firms to take the business private.
Papouchado and Ivesha put out a response saying they “intend to hold a small handful of meetings with financial investors in relation to a range of potential options, from contributing growth capital to PPHE, to a potential partial monetisation of their stakes in PPHE.”
They said they are not in discussions with any parties, but as a result of the announcement, the company is now in a takeover offer period.
The company’s two main brands are Park Plaza and Art’otel, and its London assets include the Park Plaza London Westminster Bridge, Park Plaza London Riverbank and Park Plaza London Waterloo.
Several smaller listed real estate firms have been taken private by private equity firms or larger peers in the past 18 months, including Warehouse REIT, Assura and Care REIT.
