KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 25): ECM Libra Financial Group Bhd and Tune Group Sdn Bhd via their joint venture Tune Plato Ventures Sdn Bhd have acquired a 50% stake in SubHome Management Sdn Bhd, a home-sharing platform. 

SubHome manages and markets a portfolio of home rentals and offers them complete hotel-like services, to vacation and business travelers looking for alternative lodging. 

Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, co-founder of Tune Group, said SubHome offers homeowners and developers an alternative channel to monetize their properties and increase lodging choices with a suite-like accommodation for value-conscious travellers, as well as loyal Tune Hotel guests. 

“Tune Hotels and SubHome share great synergies. We will be able to offer our extended-stay guests and families, larger, more amenity-filled rooms and provide SubHome with operational support and controls through systems, processes and expertise at Tune Hotels,” Fernandes said in a statement today. 

As part of the partnership, SubHome will also be listing its units on Tune’s accommodation portals. 

The announcement was made by the companies earlier at The Robertson, Kuala Lumpur, where SubHome operates 200 units. 

In total, SubHome operates 417 units currently spread around Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, its co-founder and chief executive officer Sandeep S Grewal said. 

“This partnership helps significantly with our ability to scale, enabling us to work closely with key distribution partners such as AirAsia, Tune Hotels and VIDI travel platform, whilst granting SubHome operational leverage with customer support, loyalty, and property management. 

“Moving forward, Tune and ECM Libra wants us to scale bigger. We had previously targeted about 40-60 units per building, but now we want to list more. So Robertson KL is the first building where we have listed a larger number of 200 units, out of the total 800 units available there,” Sandeep said at the launch earlier. 

Sandeep said for 2019, SubHomes aims to target 3,000 units and also plans to venture outside of Malaysia by end of next year, particularly Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

“For the near term, we are aiming at expanding to Selangor, Penang and Kota Kinabalu,” he said. 

On Bursa Malaysia, ECM Libra was last traded yesterday at 34 sen, for a market capitalisation of RM151.91 million.