Pryor Cashman client sbe Entertainment Group, the owner of major hospitality brands including SLS, Delano, Mondrian, Hyde, Katsuya and Cleo, has closed on the strategic sale of a fifty percent interest in the company to Paris-based AccorHotels in a transaction valued at $319 million. The deal closed on October 5, 2018.
AccorHotels owns, manages and franchises a broad portfolio of more than 4,500 hotels and properties across the globe, with a focus on Europe and Asia-Pacific. The transaction will enable sbe to enhance its presence in its core markets in North America and strengthen its ongoing expansion into new hospitality markets, including Latin America and the Middle East. Sbe founder and CEO Sam Nazarian will continue to run sbe independently.
"This deal will propel sbe's brands and Sam Nazarian into the upper echelons of the hospitality industry. The growth and market presence will be explosive. We at Pryor Cashman are proud that sbe placed their faith in our firm to deliver on such a complex and mission-critical deal," said Todd Soloway, a lead partner on the deal.
News of the deal was covered by numerous outlets, including Hotel Business, The Wall Street Journal and Business Insider.
The Pryor Cashman Team
Along with Soloway, the Pryor Cashman team was led by partners John J. Crowe, Michael Dunworth, Teresa Lee, Ed Rayner, Rich Frazer, Jeffrey Johnson, Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme, Rich Levy, Jr., counsels Rebecca Schmutter, Matthew Young, Philippe Zylberg, and associates Michelle Pham, Kyle Miller, Gene Levin, Edward Cohen, Taylor Weinstein, Matt Repetto, Colinford Mattis, Ari Tran, LaKeisha Caton, Ari Buchen and Mark Zhuang , who advised sbe on the transaction, as well as a variety of complex related issues, including the parties' joint venture arrangement, equity and transaction tax structuring, financing and recapitalization.
This transaction supplements the firm's long track record of working with sbe and Nazarian, including representing sbe in negotiating management, license and development contracts as part of sbe's global expansion; the disposition of the Hudson Hotel in New York City; the monitoring, enforcement and disposition of the companies' intellectual property; and the disposition of the Clift Hotel in San Francisco.
Pryor Cashman's Hospitality Group serves as trusted counsel to industry-leading clients, offering sound business judgment combined with sophisticated litigation and transactional expertise.