Thai real estate developer takes majority stake in the Standard

Thai real estate developer Sansiri has taken a majority stake in American hotel brand the Standard, which opened its first London outpost this year.

Sansiri has increased its stake in the brand's parent company Standard International Holdings from 37.26% to 59.02%, with the resulting $40.45m (£33m) cash injection to aid ambitious expansion plans of 25 new hotels in the next five years.

Wanchak Buranasiri, chief financial officer at Sansiri, said the Standard brand was well positioned to benefit from projected growth in the global hotel market generally and the lifestyle and boutique sector in particular.

Amar Lalvani (pictured), CEO of Standard International, added: "With the support and investment from Sansiri PLC, we are well positioned to capitalize on the rapidly growing overseas markets and are on pace to have 25 hotels open over the next five years.

"The Standard brand is perfectly positioned as consumer preferences shift globally toward spending disposable income on experiences versus goods. Approximately 60% of global millennials are in Asia. With those trends in mind, we have strategically situated ourselves to have over 90% of our global pipeline outside of the US with approximately two-thirds of that in Asia."

The Standard London, in Kings Cross, was the first overseas venture for the US-based hotel group, which was launched in 2013 by hotelier André Balazs to run as a separate entity from his wider hotel and real estate business André Balazs Properties.

Balazs stepped down from running the business in 2017 to concentrate on developing André Balazs Properties, which operates the Chiltern Firehouse in London.

Standard International Holdings will become a direct subsidiary of Sansiri (US), as well as an indirect subsidiary.