UK: Real estate platform AENDRE Group, which will develop and create lifestyle aparthotels, has secured financial backing from private equity firm JuneX Capital Partners and co-investors New End.
AENDRE Group is founded by Eric Jafari, former co-founder and chief development officer at edyn, and Chris Strong, previously edyn’s head of UK and Ireland acquisitions.
The new company will focus on the conversion of office buildings and hotels in London and European cities into lifestyle aparthotels.
Eric Jafari, founder and managing director of AENDRE, said: “We intend on taking our experience and learnings to capitalise on the current market conditions and launch AENDRE in response to evolving consumer needs that are not being met by existing brands.
“We were privileged to work on a number of developments and brands across multiple jurisdictions, experimenting and assessing various concepts, ideas and theses across a portfolio of over 25 projects. Consequently, we have identified a number of gaps in the market and intend on creating a series of new scalable hospitality brands and are privileged to have the backing from New End and JuneX Capital Partners to do so,” he added.
Chris Strong, co-founder of AENDRE, said: “Our mission is to transition carbon inefficient office buildings into green destination properties that foster communal belonging. We seek to create spaces that attract locals and travellers with an opportunity to experience a better way of life. Coincidentally, these office conversions uniquely lend themselves to lifestyle extended stay, due to their high-quality locations and relatively deep floor plates, which are challenging for traditional hotel layouts.”
Newly formed JuneX Capital Partners has been set up by Benjamin Vedrenne-Cloquet and Régis Micheli. The firm has recently launched a €100 million evergreen fund to invest in entrepreneurs in Europe.
New End is a London based advisory firm active in the alternatives space, providing support to private capital GPs.
