Aman Gets Backing for Luxury Hotels From New $500 Million Fund
Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group and Seoul-based Shinsegae Group are starting a new fund to develop luxury hotels and other properties, an investment that reflects affluent consumers’ willingness to spend lavishly on travel.
The partners will invest $500 million initially and are already working together to develop a mixed-use project in Seoul’s Gangnam District which will include an Aman hotel, residences and a private club, Doronin said in an interview.
Doronin expects the new fund to continue to raise money for development projects in the US, Asia and the Middle East. For now, it brings together Shinsegae, one of South Korea’s largest retail conglomerates, and OKO, whose portfolio includes condo projects and offices in addition to Aman hotels.
“They are strong in retail,” Doronin said. “I can develop the residential and hotels. We compliment each other.”
The first Aman hotel, opened in 1988 in Phuket, Thailand, became a blueprint for the brand’s luxurious resorts, often nestled in remote destinations. Since Doronin acquired the company in 2014, he’s pushed it into new areas, developing urban hotels such as Aman New York, where room rates can run several thousand dollars a night, and launching a lower-priced brand, Janu.
By Patrick Clark