Nigeria: Lagos-based serviced apartment provider Amara Suites has partnered with investment platform Emerging Crowd.
Amara is seeking to raise £1 million in order to expand its brand presence in Lagos and other cities throughout Nigeria. It currently operates 78 luxury apartments in Lagos, and its client base includes business travellers from several Global Fortune 100 companies and other major multinational firms. Amara has also built referral partnerships with Oakwood, BridgeStreet, SilverDoor and Synergy.
Co-founder of Emerging Crowd, Will Tindall said: “Amara has a first-mover advantage, an established presence and a very credible management team. It has an extremely impressive list of returning corporate clients and this gives the company a leg up on new entrants to this fast-growing market, who lack the brand recognition and landlord trust that facilitates their highly scalable management-contract model.”
“Having already proven its ability to execute, it is now able to sign apartment management contracts with landlords, allowing it to split the occupancy risk through a revenue-sharing model. This allows the company to leverage its fixed assets and marketing platform more efficiently and provide a lower-risk model that can be implemented quickly throughout other Nigerian markets and across Africa.”
The majority of the funds raised will be spent on portfolio expansion and the furnishing and fitting out of these properties. The remainder will be used to boost online market penetration and to reduce high-interest debt.
Amara Suites says its projections show that 2016 will be “a break-out phase for the company, as it swings into profitability”.
CEO of Amara, Abi Adisa, said: “Having completed my MBA at Wharton, I returned to Nigeria to take advantage of the growth potential in the hospitality sector created by Nigeria’s quick rise in economic importance. Hotel prices in the commercial capital Lagos are among the top five in the world according to travel experts Hogg Robinson, and we believe the serviced apartment sector is significantly under-penetrated and represents a very large and attractive opportunity.”
“Based on benchmark proportions from other major cities, 10% of hotel rooms should be serviced apartment units catering to longer-stay travellers. This means that Lagos should have approximately 1,000 serviced apartment units, when in reality, there are currently only around 100 institutional quality serviced apartment units in Lagos, of which we manage and operate 78. The combination of a growing appetite for Africa in the private equity space, the possibility of a trade sale to one of the many international hospitality brands expanding their Africa footprint, and the option of an eventual listing on a stock exchange means that Amara investors will have several compelling exit opportunities,” he added.
Investors in this round will receive the same shares as Abi Adisa and the other majority shareholders, with full voting and participation rights, including on exit. Interested investors can view detailed disclosure documents and financial information on the Emerging Crowd platform and can ask questions directly to Amara’s management team. The minimum investment is £500, and investors pay no fees to the platform.
Amara Suites’ Abi Adisa will be speaking at the inaugural Serviced Apartment Summit Americas, in New York City, on April 13 and 14.
www.amarasuites.com
www.emergingcrowd.com</p
