According to an indiscretion by the financial news channel Bloomberg, the investment fund Blackstone is - once again - considering the opportunity to sell control of the management company and the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands.
Although Blackstone refuses to comment on the leak to the business media, there is every reason to believe that the deal has been set in motion with the first round of solicitation of other American funds.
Blackstone acquired the brands and franchise agreements from the Accor group in 2012, at a time when the budget network was in serious difficulty due to a lack of investment and a sharp deterioration in its image on the American continent. After accumulating heavy losses and a colossal debt, Accor was quite happy to remove a thorn in its side and make $1.9 billion in the process. Five years earlier, the Accor group had sold its other American budget network, Red Roof, for $500 million, also putting an end to an American misadventure that had very nearly cost the French group dearly.
Since then, the new owner of the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands is reported to have invested some 900 million dollars in revitalizing the network and assisting franchisees. He refinanced part of his initial investment by selling off all the group's property assets, retaining only the franchise development model.
Since then, G6 Hospitality has remained one of the world's top 20 hotel groups, with around 1,400 units and some 120,000 budget rooms.
According to Bloomberg, an initial attempt to place the company on the market at the height of the Covid period ended in failure. The valuation at the time was reportedly less than 1 billion dollars, and investor interest was fairly low.
The rebound in the US market and RevPAR may give Blackstone fresh hope of unwinding its investment. On a different scale and in a different segment, it is worth remembering that Blackstone's acquisition of Hilton Hotels for $26 billion in 2007, which was considered "crazy", turned out to be a very lucrative deal over the long term, after regular disposals of assets and minority stakes that enabled it to double - and more - its initial stake.
