Oakwood Majorly Increases US Footprint with JV

LOS ANGELES—Oakwood Worldwide’s $4-billion corporate and serviced apartment deal with Mapletree Group will increase the company’s branded US presence. The deal will develop more than 100 properties worldwide over the next five years. As part of the new joint venture, which has been in the works since November of last year, Mapletree will acquire a 49% stake in Oakwood Asia Pacific. Goldman Sachs served as the sole financial advisor in the transaction.

Mapletree will take $2 billion to invest in markets throughout Asia and Europe, while Oakwood will take the additional $2 billion to focus on development in the US. This deal will significantly augment Oakwood’s branded US presence. “The numbers that we have are fairly conservative in the US,” Bill Foltz, Oakwood Worldwide CFO, tells GlobeSt.com. “With $2 billion available to invest, I think we are looking at 70 buildings across the US that are branded as Oakwood, and we are sitting on about 12 buildings today. We are looking at a very significant number of Oakwood properties that you will see around the country.”