Shiji Information Technology (Hong Kong) is acquiring 75% stake of Horwath HTL Asia Pacific from Sextant Investments for US$10 million in cash.
Shiji announced on September 16, 2015 that its wholly-owned subsidiary Shiji Information Technology (Hong Kong) has reached an agreement to acquired the Horwath stake from Sextant. Shiji Information Technology will become the controlling shareholder of Horwath after the transaction.
Horwath HTL Asia Pacific was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1987 and currently maintains offices in six cities in the region. The company specializes in offering professional consultation service for the hotel and travel industries, including offering comprehensive solutions for hotel development covering the entire project life cycle – from conceptualization to development, asset management, operational recommendations, hotel management and financial restructuring. Horwath’s consultants are said to be able to add value to hotel projects with their industry expertise, analytical skills and strategic thinking.
Since its establishment, Horwath has been offering consultation services to more than 1,000 hotel and travel industry projects in Asia Pacific, and its clients include individual private enterprises, international hotel management brands, developers, banks, investors and industrial enterprises. Horwath also maintains a comprehensive databank of global international hotels and the tourism industry to support its project analysis and evaluation work.
Unaudited financial figures show that the company achieved earnings of US$7.86 in 2013 and US$7.46 in 2014, and net profits of US$2.599 million and US$484,200 in the two years. Commenting on the cost of the acquisition, Shiji said the price was arrived at based on the company’s financial data and market valuation endorsed by all parties.
Shiji believes the acquisition could help Shiji Hong Kong leverage Horwath’s strengths in hotel and tourism project development, asset management and investment. Coupled with Shiji’s own edge in information systems for hotels, catering and tourism, the companies can provide more precise and value-added consultation service for hotels and tourism projects at a crucial junction when China’s hotel and tourism industries are going through a phase of rapid changes. Their expertise will help clients adapt their models to maintain and enhance asset values.
Shiji has been consolidating its position in the hotel market through a series of acquisitions of hotel management systems and progressing towards developing into travel expenditure information service platform. In the hotel field, it will strengthen its research and development of new technology on cloud property management system. In the catering field, the latest acquisition will augment the catering solutions of Pegasus system, operated by Shiji’s indirectly owned subsidiary Guangzhou Armitage Technologies. In the area of payment, Shiji has transferred its holdings in Nanjing Silverstone Computer System to Silver Rock Technology in the process of integrating its payment system business.
