OYO and Softbank acquire 80% stake in Japan's rental apartment operator MDI

Amidst expansion across India, China, Malaysia, the Middle East, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, UK, Europe and lately in the US, hospitality brand OYO has cemented another deal in SoftBank's home turf - Japan.

OYO and SoftBank have jointly acquired an 80% stake in Japanese rental apartment operator MDI for an estimated $100 million investment. 

The deal materialised only last week, will help OYO to leverage MDI's strong network and business development capabilities in Japan's real estate market, said a report by Nikkei Asian Review.

OYO entered its largest investor's home in February with house rental services OYO Life in a joint venture with Yahoo Japan Corporation (a SoftBank's subsidiary).

Following the acquisition, OYO will list a section of 37,000 rooms under MDI management on its room rental platform. It will supplement the company's existing inventory of more than 2,000 rooms in Japan.

Primarily aims to target students and young professionals in Japan, OYO eyes to leverage 2020 Olympic Games opportunity and growing popularity as a tourist destination to achieve a dominant market share in the country.

The development comes at a time when the Gurugram-based company is setting up two new joint ventures in Japan, Mountainia Developers and Hospitality Pvt Ltd and MyPreferred Transformation and Hospitality Pvt Ltd, in partnership with SoftBank.

Meanwhile, OYO’s founder Ritesh Agarwal ambitious $1.5 billion stock buyback plan has got approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The validation will allow Agarwal to facilitate a transaction through freshly formed Cayman-based RA Hospitality Holdings.

The transaction would also increase Agarwal's stake in OYO from the current 9% to over 30%.