IHG buys Six Senses in $300m deal

IHG has bought the Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas brand from Pegasus Capital Advisors in a deal that includes all the Six Senses operating companies but no physical assets. Pegasus has owned Six Senses since 2012.

Six Senses currently manages 16 hotels and resorts, with 18 management contracts in its pipeline and more than 50 further deals “under active discussion”. Locations include the Maldives, the Seychelles, Yao Noi in Thailand, Zighy Bay in Oman and Portugal’s Douro Valley.

Its purchaser said the agreement “will further round out IHG’s position in the luxury segment”.

Six Senses will sit at the top of IHG’s luxury portfolio, complementing the world’s largest luxury hotel brand, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, and the recently acquired and repositioned Regent Hotels & Resorts and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, for which IHG has secured a presence in 14 countries since its acquisition in 2015. The Six Senses purchase takes IHG’s global portfolio of open and pipeline luxury hotels to 400 hotels and 108,000 rooms.

IHG said it saw potential to grow the Six Senses estate “to more than 60 properties globally over the next 10 years”. “This includes bringing Six Senses to important urban markets, with a property already under construction in West Chelsea, Manhattan.”

IHG chief executive Keith Barr said: "Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top tier of luxury and one we’ve admired for some time. You only have to look at its iconic hotels and resorts to see how this acquisition will further round out our luxury offering. With a focus on wellness and sustainability, Six Senses has been voted the world’s top hotel brand for the past two years, which is testament to its impressive management team who bring deep experience to IHG’s luxury operations.

"Six Senses’ attractive development pipeline provides us with a platform for high quality growth. With the power of the IHG enterprise, we believe we can expand Six Senses to more than 60 properties globally over the next decade. This acquisition continues the progress we’ve made against the strategic initiatives we outlined a year ago, which included a commitment to adding new brands in the fast-growing $60 billion luxury segment."