Our History
FAY Investment Group was established in August 2015 by Sandeep Wadhwa, incorporated in England and Wales under the name FAY Asset Management and Advisors Ltd before adopting its current identity in October 2019. From the outset, the platform was built around a singular conviction: that the real estate and hospitality sectors — when approached with rigorous discipline, deep operational knowledge, and a contrarian eye for underperforming assets — offer some of the most compelling risk-adjusted returns available to sophisticated investors.
Mr Wadhwa brought to the Group over two decades of experience in the hospitality industry and a Masters in Finance & Control, along with a track record that included successfully led and completed transactions with total deal value aggregating in excess of $4 billion and direct oversight of over $2 billion of luxury hotel real estate, including some of the most visible and highly-rated properties in the world.
Building the Platform
The Group’s early years were devoted to establishing the intellectual and operational foundations that would distinguish FAY from generalist real estate investors. The team developed proprietary methodologies for Asset Performance Reviews, feasibility studies, market entry analyses, and management contract negotiations — a body of practice refined over years of advisory work across Europe, the United States, and Asia. Through extensive industry data, network and experience, FAY built a thorough repository of market intelligence for the real estate and hospitality industries. The London, Mayfair office became the Group’s institutional home while strategic relationships were simultaneously cultivated across the Atlantic. This dual-hemisphere positioning reflected a deliberate ambition: to source opportunities across major European and US jurisdictions that other investors might overlook.
Expanding the Team and the Investment Mandate
As the Group matured, it expanded its professional team with specialists across corporate finance, legal, compliance, asset management, and client relationships. The Group's London and New York based teams came to include experienced investment professionals combining years of experience identifying, sourcing and structuring deals across major European and US jurisdictions. The investment mandate crystalised around a clear thesis: focus on primary urban markets and select leisure destinations with diversified and growing demand characteristics and high barriers to entry, while selectively pursuing opportunities in secondary markets with high average daily rates where a boutique hotel product stands out among the competition. The strategy encompassed operations enhancement, renovation and repositioning, adaptive reuse, and select ground-up development — always with a moderate leverage discipline that avoided the excessive risk that over-leveraged competitors routinely accepted. In 2021, FAY incorporated FAY Hospitality Catskills LLC in Delaware, signalling the Group's first major US operational commitment and its entry into the Catskill Mountains resort market in New York State.
The Villa Roma Acquisition
The most consequential transaction in FAY's history to date has been its pursuit and ultimate acquisition of Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center in Callicoon, New York — a landmark property set across approximately 435 acres in Sullivan County's Catskill Mountains. The path to completion was not without challenge. Finance delays associated with post-COVID market conditions, interest rate increases, and the 2023 banking crisis led to the temporary loss of funding from a key lender— setbacks that tested the Group's resolve but also demonstrated the quality of its commitment. FAY resubmitted its IDA application, secured new financing, and pressed forward. The sale of Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center to FAY Hospitality Catskills LLC closed on 6 September 2024. The new owners committed to a total capital investment, including immediate property upgrades and golf course irrigation improvements, followed by enhancements to hotel rooms, public spaces, and recreational facilities — all while preserving employment for nearly 250 full-time and 70 seasonal staff. The acquisition of Villa Roma represents FAY's investment philosophy made tangible: an iconic, multi-revenue-stream asset — encompassing hotel rooms, serviced apartment villas, an 18-hole golf course, ski facilities, restaurants, conference space, and a fitness centre — acquired in a secondary leisure market, with a clear value-add programme and a long investment horizon.
Today and the Road Ahead
FAY Investment Group enters its second decade as a transatlantic platform with demonstrated capability across the full investment lifecycle — from origination and structuring through active asset management and operational repositioning. The Group restructures, asset manages, and invests in income-producing real estate and hospitality assets with significant growth potential in major European and US cities and resort destinations. The team has grown to encompass corporate finance, legal, compliance, digital strategy, beverage and programming, and operational management — a multidisciplinary group united by the belief that unlocking the true potential of an asset means assisting the unit operations team to challenge the status quo, using market intelligence, analytical assessment, and industry best practices to balance business operations with the financial objectives of owners and investors. As Sandeep Wadhwa has stated: "Identifying and managing iconic and high potential assets is what we pride ourselves on at FAY. Managing each asset with a high level of precision is at the forefront of growing relationships with our network of investors." That commitment — to precision, to patience, and to the long-term creation of value — has defined FAY since its founding and will continue to define the Group in the decades ahead.
