Warburg Pincus, VinaCapital to create SE Asia hotel platform

The joint venture will be seeded with initial capital of up to $300 million from Warburg Pincus and VinaCapital. Assets will include Serenity Holding, a hotel management company that develops and operates boutique resorts and upscale city hotels in Vietnam under the Fusion brand. Serenity was previously co-owned by Lam and Marco van Aggele.

The investors will further grow the asset base through acquiring, repositioning and enhancing well-located city hotels in key tier-one cities and developing luxury resorts in leading destinations. They will also partner with other hotel management companies and platforms to expand coverage. The ultimate objective to list the platform.

"With tourist arrivals to the region expected to more than triple over the next 10 years, hospitality and tourism will be at the forefront of driving the region's outsized growth. Mr. Lam, Mr. van Aggele and VinaCapital have strong local market knowledge and a proven track record of investing in all aspects of the hospitality sector," Jeffrey Perlman, managing director and head of Southeast Asia at Warburg Pincus, said in a statement.

VinaCapital has made 16 hospitality investments over the last 10 years, involving more than $220 million of equity investment into Vietnam through a range of financing structures. Projects include business hotels, coastal resorts and residential communities, golf courses and serviced apartments. Warburg Pincus has deployed more than $2.5 billion across 20 real estate companies and projects in Asia, with hospitality companies in China and India among them.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Real estate
• Real estate
• Expansion
• Vietnam
• Growth capital
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• VinaCapital