India: Hotel booking platform OYO has acquired Chennai-based service apartment company Novascotia Boutique Homes.
The acquisition will boost OYO’s portfolio by 350 units across locations where Novascotia has properties. OYO says this is the first in a series of acquisitions, collaborations, innovations and launches.
Novascotia caters to corporate travellers and has a presence in Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Trivandrum. OYO plans to expand these offerings to 12 cities by the end of 2018. These serviced apartments are located in the heart of business hubs equipped with spacious rooms, upscale interiors, meals, gym and dining area to cater all the requirements of business travellers. The company has an EBITDA of 14 per cent.
“We are thrilled that our very first business acquisition involves an established brand like Novascotia. Though in the niche segment of boutique homes, Novascotia brings with it the expertise in catering to the corporate travel segment, an area we have seen great potential and established ourselves as the market leader with varied offerings across 230+ cities including all major corporate hubs,” said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO of OYO.
“The acquisition forms an integral part of our inorganic growth plan, in line with our ambition to create beautiful and quality living spaces and adding value to every form of real estate. OYO is poised to deliver 180,000 keys by the end of 2018 and with Novascotia’s Strength, we will be adding service apartments to our existing portfolio – which includes budget rooms, OYO Townhouse, OYO Home, enabling us to offer a wide range of choices to our customers,” he added.
G. Madhu Manohar and Girja Madhu, co-founders of Novascotia, said: “Novascotia is a brand built over years with a lot of commitment and hard work. With OYO, we saw similar passion towards solving a problem and we are thrilled to become a part of the entity which is driven by perseverance and innovation. We are convinced that OYO with its wide experience in the hospitality business and hunger for delivering quality customer experience has every potential to take the Novascotia brand promise of ‘home away from home; forward. We are delighted with the support and professionalism received from OYO, its teams and our advisers at ANOVA Corporate Services for taking this to closure. We are excited to be onboard.”
