AENDRE Group, a real estate platform focused on the development and conceptualisation of lifestyle aparthotels, has launched with backing from newly formed private equity firm JuneX Capital Partners, and co-investor New End, to execute on its strategy of creating and scaling disruptive hospitality brands.

As an interdisciplinary development studio, AENDRE has been established to convert office buildings and hotels in London and European gateway cities into lifestyle extended stay hotels.

AENDRE is founded by Eric Jafari, previously Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer at Brookfield backed edyn, one of Europe’s largest aparthotel groups, and Chris Strong, previously edyn’s Head of UK & Ireland Acquisitions. Eric and his team were responsible, under Oaktree’s stewardship, for repositioning the SACO portfolio, creating & launching the Locke brand, before selling the platform to Brookfield in 2018. Whilst under Brookfield’s ownership, Eric and his team scaled the platform fourfold across Europe between 2018 and 2023 through the acquisition and development of real estate opportunities across the UK and European gateway cities (France, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland & Switzerland). Prior to this, Eric was Co-Founder and Managing Director to Union Hanover Securities where he oversaw a £400 million development portfolio. The team has recently made a number of high-profile hires, which will be announced imminently.

We intend on taking our experience and learnings to capitalise on the current market conditions and launch AENDRE in response to evolving consumer needs that are not being met by existing brands. We were privileged to work on a number of developments and brands across multiple jurisdictions, experimenting and assessing various concepts, ideas and theses across a portfolio of over 25 projects. Consequently, we have identified a number of gaps in the market and intend on creating a series of new scalable hospitality brands and are privileged to have the backing from New End and JuneX Capital Partners to do so. Eric Jafari, Founder and Managing Director

Just last year, STR provided statistics that by 2025 lifestyle hotels are expected to make up 23% of the hotel development pipeline, with a new generation looking for relaxed lifestyle experiences in favour of old-fashioned luxury resorts. Property analysts CoStar recently stated that more than 25% of office sales over the past year have been from developers looking to convert office buildings into hotels.

Our mission is to transition carbon inefficient office buildings into green destination properties that foster communal belonging. We seek to create spaces that attract locals and travellers with an opportunity to experience a better way of life. Coincidentally, these office conversions uniquely lend themselves to lifestyle extended stay, due to their high-quality locations and relatively deep floor plates, which are challenging for traditional hotel layouts. Chris Strong, Co-Founder

France and UK based JuneX Capital Partners, set up by Benjamin Vedrenne-Cloquet and Régis Micheli, has just launched a €100m evergreen fund to invest in entrepreneurs in Europe, while New End is a London based advisory firm active in the alternatives space, providing support to private capital GPs. This financial backing will enable AENDRE to execute on its strategy.

We are delighted to be backing AENDRE. Our platform is designed for founders, and on meeting Eric Jafari and the AENDRE team, we felt this was a great opportunity to back a challenger in the sector, who has a strong track record and can apply this experience into something forward-thinking with ‘green destination properties. JuneX Capital Partners

New End added: We are excited to support AENDRE in its launch and see a strong future in this asset class. We are impressed by the team’s strong experience in the sector and look forward to seeing how AENDRE develops.

Kelsey Traynor