Aman Group Secures $500 Million Investment, Partners with South Korean Retail Giant Shinsegae Group

Aman Group announced that it has secured a $500 million investment from a newly established joint venture fund between OKO Group, the real estate development and investment company behind Aman, and South Korea's Shinsegae Group.

Vladislav Doronin, majority shareholder and CEO of Aman Group, as well as founder and CEO of OKO Group, said the joint venture fund will initially focus on developing hotels and residences under the Aman and Janu brands, but will also venture into mixed-use real estate development projects led by OKO Group, and the new fund will continue to raise capital for development projects in the United States, Asia, and the Middle East.

From left to right: Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin and OKO Group Founder and CEO Vlad Doronin

This is not Aman Group's first fundraising, but previous rounds were direct capital injections:

• In 2022, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Cain International injected $900 million into Aman Group;
• In 2023, Mubadala Capital and Alpha Wave Ventures directly invested $360 million in Aman Group.

When asked why the company chose to expand through a joint venture this time, Vladislav Doronin explained that he particularly wanted to leverage Shinsegae Group's "expertise" in real estate development and placemaking for future mixed-use projects. He revealed that over the past four years, Aman Group has sold nearly $9 billion worth of branded residences. In recent years, Aman Group has been expanding its ultra-luxury hotel business into large-scale urban mixed-use projects, with representative projects including:

• The Aman New York Crown Building renovation project, featuring 83 hotel suites, 22 branded residences, and the Aman Club, which opened in 2022;

Above: Aman New York

• One Beverly Hills project, which also integrates Aman-branded hotel, residences, and club, set to open in 2028;

Above: One Beverly Hills master plan

• Janu Dubai project in the Dubai International Financial Centre, featuring 150 hotel rooms, 57 branded residences, the world's first Janu Club, and retail and office spaces, expected to open in 2027.

Above: Janu Dubai project rendering

A report by Savills shows that global buyers are willing to pay a premium for residences developed by luxury hotel brands, with an average premium of 33%, including 39% for resort destinations and 30% for urban areas.

The initial use of this funding round is to develop a mixed-use project in Seoul's Gangnam district, which will include an Aman hotel, residences, and a private club, marking the brand's first entry into the South Korean market.

Shinsegae Group and OKO Group bear the capital and development risks as partners, while Aman participates as a brand and operator, earning management and licensing fees.

Shinsegae Group is one of South Korea's largest retail and lifestyle conglomerates, developing and operating Shinsegae Department Store (one of the top three department store groups in Korea), E-Mart (the largest discount supermarket chain in Korea), and large shopping malls like Starfield.

Vladislav Doronin said: "This mixed-use project in Korea will not follow the template of One Beverly Hills or Janu Dubai; each of our projects is unique, and I personally get involved."

Currently, Aman brand also has projects under construction in Miami, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Maldives, Bahamas, and elsewhere; Janu brand's first hotel opened in Tokyo, Japan in 2024, with other projects under construction in Janu Al Marjan Island (UAE), Turks and Caicos, Montenegro, Turkey, and South Korea. Among the two brands' projects under construction, most are mixed-use projects including hotels and branded residences.

Aman currently has three hotel projects in China: Amanyangyun in Shanghai, Amandayan in Lijiang, Yunnan, and Amanfayun in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.

Above: Amanyangyun Shanghai

| Sources: Bloomberg, Forbes, latteluxurynews

| Image sources: Aman, Janu official websites