Accor has announced that its HotelInvest business has agreed to purchase two real-estate portfolios representing 86 and 11 hotels respectively (12,838 rooms) for a total consideration of about €900 million. “These transactions send a strong signal of our capability to rapidly implement the strategy of restructuring the HotelInvest portfolio,” said Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Accor. “They are fully aligned with our selective asset acquisition criteria: hotels located in key European cities and delivering excellent operating performance in our most profitable market segments”.
The first portfolio, representing 86 hotels and 11,286 rooms across Germany (67 hotels) and the Netherlands (19 hotels) has been operated by Accor since 2007 under variable-rent leases and the following brands: ibis (29 hotels), ibis budget (31 hotels), Mercure (17 hotels) and Novotel (9 hotels). The total consideration for this acquisition is €722 million. The sellers are two funds, Moor Park Fund I and II, advised by Moor Park Capital Partners, a pan-European real estate private equity investment advisory business.
Besides, Accor has entered into exclusive negotiations with Axa Real Estate for a second portfolio representing 11 hotels and 1,592 rooms in Switzerland. This portfolio has been operated by Accor since 2008 under variable-rent leases and the following brands: ibis (5 hotels), ibis budget (2 hotels), Novotel (3 hotels) and MGallery (1 hotel).
Both acquisitions will be accretive to Accor’s EBIT in 2014. Based on pro forma 2013 figures, the relative contribution of owned hotels to HotelInvest’s net operating income1 will increase by around fourteen points to 68%. One of the key objectives for HotelInvest, the leading hotel investor in Europe, is to raise this proportion to more than 75% over the medium term.
Completion of the acquisitions is subject to the usual conditions for this type of transaction, as well as to regulatory approval.
