This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any feedback.
Diving certificate:
- Blackstone and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association has acquired a majority stake in hotel technology provider M3Blackstone announced on Thursday.
- The move – AAHOA’s first ever strategic investment – aims to accelerate M3’s growth by expanding its product offerings and supporting the adoption of the company’s software, according to Blackstone.
- Blackstone declined to disclose terms of the deal. In a statement, AAHOA Chairman Miraj Patel said the partnership will “provide AAHOA members with access to advanced technology and innovative solutions that can increase operational efficiencies and drive growth.”
Diving insight:
According to the press release, M3 currently provides accounting, human resource management and business intelligence services to more than 8,000 hotels across North America. The company’s hotel accounting software “enables hotel operators to operate more efficiently and effectively,” Blackstone’s statement said.
Blackstone is now M3’s first institutional capital partner.
In a public post on LinkedInRamzi Ramsey, managing director of Blackstone Growth, said the two companies first met when Blackstone was exploring “how to better leverage M3’s product across its entire hospitality portfolio.”
“Through this evaluation and numerous customer reference calls, it became clear that (founder John McKibbon) and his team built M3 with the utmost focus on product quality,” Ramsey wrote.
“Blackstone’s experience in the hospitality industry made them a natural choice as our first capital partner,” McKibbon said in a statement. “Together, we look forward to driving our innovation and growth to best serve our customers in an era of continuous technological advancement.”
Allen Read and Casi Johnson, CEO and president of M3, said in a joint statement that the partnership will enable them to “further expand our vision, team and culture.”
The M3 investment is not Blackstone’s first foray into hospitality technology. In March last year The company acquired Cvent in a $4.6 billion dealThe deal came a few months after Blackstone Senior Managing Director Tyler Henritze announced his… mentioned at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference“We wish our hotel portfolio was larger.”
