tl;dr – A preexisting shareholder has agreed to purchase the remaining outstanding shares.
Big announcement in the corporate development/M&A side of the travelverse, Friday – Hong-Kong-based investment firm Jardine Matheson announced its intention to take Mandarin Oriental private in a $4.2 billion deal. The firm was already a large shareholder in the Hong Kong-based luxury hotelier.
According to Reuters, Jardine Matheson believes taking the full interest in Mandarin Oriental “will allow it to better support the hotel group’s growth and streamline its portfolio.”
Mandarin Oriental’s current footprint is respectable – there are 44 hotels, 12 residences, and 26 luxury vacation homes across the world.
This feels a bit like MO is getting the private equity treatment – I wouldn’t be surprised if the immediate next step post the go-private move is significant cost cutting, namely around real estate, as a way to go asset light.
What I’d love to know? What’s the end game?
I’ve long thought that Mandarin Oriental would be a super interesting acquisition target by one of the larger hotel chains. It’d be a mega deal not unlike Marriott’s purchase of the Ritz-Carlton several years ago. Jardines Matheson could, of course, return Mandarin Oriental to the public markets after some time, in the form of an IPO. Something just feels like we’re more likely to eventually see a big-time acquisition.
