Taylor Wessing has advised onefinestay, the global high-end hospitality business, on its ground-breaking sale to AccorHotels. The deal, which is worth significantly in excess of £100m, sees Accor acquire onefinestay, with an agreement to invest a further £50m in the business to support the company’s ambitious plans to scale to 40 new markets over the next five years.
Accor, the French hotels giant behind the Sofitel and Ibis chains, soon to be joined by Fairmont Raffles after the acquisition announced in December 2015, takes this step to secure its leadership position in the private home rental market.
onefinestay gives guests the opportunity to stay in characterful private homes in city centres with a full hospitality service. For homeowners, onefinestay provides peace of mind, convenience and flexibility, by taking care of everything from marketing, distribution and insurance to screening each guest, to professional cleaning, management and maintenance. The company currently operates in London, New York, Paris Los Angeles and – from June 2016 – Rome.
Co-founder Greg Marsh will remain at the helm as CEO and Chairman, and onefinestay will continue to operate as an independent business within the Accor group.
This deal heralds the next evolutionary stage for the hospitality industry, which is now beginning to embrace the online start-ups which have disrupted the traditional hotel and travel business models in recent years.
Greg Marsh, co-founder and CEO at onefinestay said “Angus’s contribution to onefinestay goes far beyond just providing legal advice. He has been involved since the very start of the business, guiding us through every major corporate event in the company’s life. He exhibits a rare combination of punctilious legal discipline with real commercial flair. Due to Angus’s recent move to Taylor Wessing, this transaction has also given me the unexpected pleasure of working with several of his new colleagues – an impressive array of intellects – who worked round the clock through the Easter holiday to close an unusually complex deal.”
Angus Miln, partner in the Corporate Technology group at Taylor Wessing said “This was a complex and transformative deal which demonstrates the benefits of a technology lifecycle practice. It was a pleasure to work with Greg and Demetrios again and a privilege to have the opportunity to showcase the extended Taylor Wessing team at its very best: committed, innovative, agile, and exceptionally client-focused. On a personal note, it is fantastic to be part of a market-leading team that really owns this space.”
James Goold, Head of the Private Equity group at Taylor Wessing said “We are delighted to have delivered another successful exit of this type. The onefinestay deal follows hot on the heels of similar deals for other leading tech companies, including Wahanda and Unruly.”
The Taylor Wessing team was led by partners Angus Miln and James Goold supported by associates Alex Richardson, Suzy Penney and Jemilla Olufeko. Specialist advice was provided by Rob Young (Tax), Ann Casey and Anna Humphrey (Employee Incentives and Benefits), Paul Callaghan and James Watkins (Employment) and Sian Skelton (ITTC).
