Hoteles City Express, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Hoteles City Express” or “the Company“) (BMV: HCITY) announced today that Jaguar Growth Partners (“Jaguar“) – a privately-held investment management firm focused on global growth markets – has made an investment for approximately 9.7% of the total Shareholders Equity of the Company to establish a strategic partnership between the two firms.
The investment was made through Jaguar’s real estate private equity strategy, which focuses on investing opportunistically in real estate related operating platforms and companies in key Latin American markets.
“We are excited to have Jaguar as our shareholder and to be able to count on their strategic support. Together with our team’s expertise in the Latin American hospitality marketplace and focus on operational excellence, we are confident that Jaguar’s real estate and capital market expertise will contribute positively to our strategy for profitable growth,” noted Mr. Luis Barrios, CEO of Hoteles City Express.
“As the largest hotel company in its targeted segments, Hoteles City Express is well-positioned to continue to grow and benefit from the solid fundamentals of Mexico’seconomy and its presence in diverse regions across the country. We look forward to working with HCITY’s outstanding management team to increase shareholder value by optimizing its real estate assets and expanding its franchise and management operations,” said Thomas McDonald, Jaguar Managing Partner.
Support from long-term investors with real estate optimization expertise such as Jaguar helps advance Hoteles City Express’ commitment to its shareholders’ to continue being the best investment option for value creation.
Jaguar has previously completed investments in several other operating platforms and real estate companies in Latin America with significant success.
About Jaguar Growth Partners:
Headquartered in New York with an office in Sao Paulo, Jaguar is a privately-held investment management firm specializing in real estate private equity in growth markets globally. Founded in 2013 by Gary Garrabrant and Thomas McDonald, Jaguar invests in and develops scalable real estate-related operating platforms and companies poised to grow in markets characterized by an emerging middle class, aspirational youth, urbanization and other secular trends found in emerging global economies. Commencing their investment activities in the 1990’s, Jaguar’s founders are regarded as leaders in real estate investing and company-building in emerging markets through growth capital investments and working in active collaboration with local operating partners. Jaguar is distinguished by its global insights, partner orientation and proven approach to optimizing value and liquidity. Jaguar is a member of the Pension Real Estate Association, Latin American Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association and the Institutional Limited Partners Association.
About Hoteles City Express:
Hoteles City Express is the leading and fastest-growing limited-service hotel chain in Mexico in terms of number of hotels, number of rooms, geographic presence, market share and revenues. Founded in 2002, Hoteles City Express specializes in offering high-quality, comfortable and safe lodging at affordable prices via a limited-service hotel chain geared mainly towards domestic business travelers. With 124 hotels in operation located throughout Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombiaand Chile, Hoteles City Express operates five distinct brands: City Express, City Express Plus, City Express Suites, City Express Junior and City Centro to serve different segments of its target market. In June 2013, Hoteles City Express completed its IPO and began trading on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “HCITY“; furthermore, on October 8, 2014, Hoteles City Express completed a follow on with the aim of accelerating its growth in new hotels in coming years.
HCITY is covered by the following financial institutions and analysts: Actinver (Pablo Duarte), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Carlos Peyrelongue), Citigroup (Alejandro Lavín), GBM (Héctor Vázquez), ITAU BBA (Enrico Trotta), J.P. Morgan (Adrián Huerta), Morgan Stanley (NIkolaj Lippmann), Santander (Cecilia Jiménez), Signum Research (Armando Rodriguez), UBS (Marimar Torreblanca).
