IHG acquires Six Senses for £232m

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has acquired Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas for $300m (£232m) from Pegasus Capital Advisors.

The cash acquisition includes all of Six Senses’ brands and operating companies but not real estate assets.

Six Senses manages 16 hotels and resorts, with 18 management contracts signed into its pipeline, and more than 50 further deals under active discussion, adding to IHG’s luxury portfolio.

Six Senses will sit at the top of IHG’s luxury portfolio, complementing its InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand; the recently acquired and repositioned Regent Hotels & Resorts and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. The acquisition takes IHG’s portfolio of open and pipeline luxury properties to 400 hotels (108,000 rooms) globally.

IHG has revealed plans to grow the Six Senses estate to more than 60 properties globally over the next 10 years, including bringing Six Senses to urban markets, with a property already under construction in Manhattan, New York City.

Keith Barr, chief executive of IHG, said: “Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top-tier of luxury and one we’ve admired for some time. You only have to look at its iconic hotels and resorts to see how this acquisition will further round out our luxury offer.

“This acquisition continues the progress we’ve made against the strategic initiatives we outlined a year ago, which included a commitment to adding new brands in the fast-growing $60b (£46b) luxury segment.”

Neil Jacobs, chief executive of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, said: “An outstanding business has been built over the past 20 years, and a respected portfolio of hotels and resorts, with wellness and sustainability at their heart. This distinct proposition and the popularity of our award-winning estate, combined with IHG’s scale, systems and expertise gives us the opportunity to accelerate Six Senses’ global growth.”

David Cogut, principal, Pegasus Capital Advisors, added: “Six Senses fit well with our core themes of investing in sustainability and wellness with a focus on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) integration, and we’re proud of the work we have done to build it into one of the world’s best luxury hotel brands. Since acquiring the brand in 2012, we have taken the Six Senses experience to some of the world’s most select locations. IHG shares many of our values and will protect what’s special about the brand as it drives Six Senses’ next phase of growth.”