OYO's Ritesh Agarwal to buy back $2 bn shares from early investors - Check details

OYO Hotels & Homes, a hospitality chain, today (Friday) announced that its founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal has signed a $2 billion deal of share buyback through a primary and secondary management investment round, supported by global institutional banks and financial partners. However, the deal is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. 

OYO’s early supporters Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia India are selling part of their holdings in order to help the founder increase his stake, while remaining invested significantly in the company, a company statement said.

This year, the company has seen a 4.4x year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenue in June 2019 against June 2018, with 1 million rooms under management across hotels and homes. It has over 200,000 rooms in India. 

The company’s strong growth, improved margins, superior improvements in customer experience led to this move, making it one of the first founder and executive-led management purchases in the technology and hospitality sector globally, the statement said. 

Agarwal said, “It is a very exciting time for OYO right now as we make great living spaces come alive across all corners of the world from Texas to Tokyo. Our endeavor continues to be to become the most loved hospitality brand in the coming years. I am deeply humbled and delighted to have gotten the support of all our investors, the board and above all the institutionalized financial partners that have provided the necessary financial support towards realizing this vision. Needless to say, the deal remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.”

Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed India Partners Advisors, said, ‘’As the company’s first institutional investor, Lightspeed is fortunate to have been part of OYO’s journey from a fledgling start-up in India to a transformative company in the hospitality industry globally. We remain committed to supporting Ritesh and the OYO team as the company embarks on its next phase of growth globally.”

OYO has investors like Airbnb, SoftBank Vision Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India, and Hero Enterprise.