SC Capital’s Suchad Wins Approval to Buy Bangkok’s Royal Orchid Sheraton for THB 5.3 Billion
Unitholders in Grande Royal Orchid Hospitality REIT have voted 97.66 per cent in favour of selling Bangkok’s Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers to Orchid Hospitality, controlled by SC Capital founder Suchad Chiaranussati, for THB 5.3 billion ($157 million). The deal, at THB 7.3 million per key,
SC Capital Partners founder Suchad Chiaranussati has won approval from unitholders in a trust that owns Bangkok’s Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers to buy the riverfront landmark for THB 5.3 billion ($157 million). Unitholders in the Thai-listed Grande Royal Orchid Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust, known as GROREIT, backed the sale to Orchid Hospitality with 97.66 per cent of votes at a meeting on Wednesday, Pote Harinasuta, chief executive of the trust’s manager, ONE Asset Management (ONEAM), told MGR Online. Suchad personally owns 99.99 per cent of Orchid Hospitality, according to the trust’s meeting circular, and the result cleared the three-quarters majority the trust needed.
The trust is selling after its former owner and tenant, Royal Orchid Hotel (Thailand) (ROH), missed a July deadline to buy the hotel back under the sale-and-leaseback that moved the property into the trust in 2021. At THB 7.3 million per key, the price is 1.7 per cent above the trust’s THB 5.2 billion appraisal and 8.8 per cent above the THB 4.87 billion at which ROH proposed to buy the hotel back.
The 28-storey hotel stands on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok’s Bang Rak district, about 250 metres west of Charoen Krung Road along Soi Charoen Krung 30, just upriver from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The Royal Orchid Sheraton opened in 1984, according to the circular, and has 726 rooms, with every category but the presidential suite a river-view room. It occupies an 8,660 square metre (93,200 square foot) site and spans 69,593 square metres of built area which puts the price at about THB 76,000 per square metre.
Marriott International markets the property as the Royal Orchid Sheraton Riverside Hotel Bangkok, with restaurants, two swimming pools and 4,000 square metres (43,000 square feet) of event space. Orchid will take over the trust’s management agreements with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the Marriott unit that runs the Sheraton brand. The trust’s appraisal values the hotel as though its lease had ended, assuming occupancy of 72 per cent for the first three years, rising to 75 per cent in the fourth, and an average room rate of THB 4,000 a night. Pote said in July that the hotel is running at about 70 per cent occupancy.
Orchid Hospitality will sign a sale agreement with the trust within days and pay a THB 100 million deposit on signing, Pote said, with the remaining THB 5.2 billion due by 11 November, 14 days after the vote. Orchid Hospitality was incorporated in July with THB 1 million in registered capital, according to the circular, which describes it as a holding company for hotel investments. Pote said the trust chose Orchid because it has the cash ready, does not need to wait for board approval and already knows the property, sparing it the two to three months of due diligence other investors would need. Suchad had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Unitholders also approved an auction as a fallback if Orchid misses that deadline, with a floor of THB 4.95 billion, 5 per cent below the appraisal. Pote said an auction could take about six months and might not beat Orchid’s price. The manager and trustee MFC Asset Management say ROH’s repurchase right has expired, although ROH maintains that it remains valid. Under terms set out in the circular, Orchid is buying without due diligence and accepting the risk of the ROH litigation. If a court orders the property sold to ROH, Orchid has agreed not to pursue the trust for any shortfall on the price, and it will cover the trust’s legal costs in defending claims for two years after the title passes.
ROH sold the hotel to the trust in 2021 for THB 4.5 billion excluding VAT, then agreed to pay annual rent of THB 272 million and a repurchase price of THB 4.87 billion at the end of the fifth year, the trust’s financial statements show. Grande Asset Hotels and Property held 97 per cent of ROH at the end of 2025, according to its annual report. After the deadline passed, ROH offered in August to buy the hotel back at THB 4.87 billion with backing from a funder whose support depended on its own due diligence, according to the circular. The manager put the offer to unitholders although it considered the right expired, and about 91 per cent voted against. Pote said the price no longer delivered the return of around 8 per cent that unitholders were targeting, while the sale to Orchid should give them an IRR near 9 per cent.
Suchad founded SC Capital in 2004, and the Singapore-based manager is 40 per cent owned by Temasek-controlled CapitaLand Investment. It closed on $900 million for its sixth Asia Pacific opportunistic fund in March last year, with hospitality a core element of the strategy. Suchad bought Fusion Hotel Group in March. The Ho Chi Minh City-based operator had 18 operating hotels with 3,000 keys across Vietnam and Thailand, and a secured pipeline exceeding 2,000 keys, when the deal was announced. Fusion said Suchad’s Hotel Management Japan and Topotels Hotels & Resorts in Indonesia would bring the combined businesses to 16,000 keys across four markets.
