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Global hospitality player Accor Hotels on Wednesday announced that it has acquired FRHI Hotels & Resorts and its three prestigious luxury hotel brands: Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel.
This comes after the approval of shareholders at the general shareholders meeting on July 12.
Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Accor Hotels, said in a statement, “The acquisition of these three hotel brands is a historical milestone for Accor Hotels. It will open up amazing growth prospects, lift our international presence to unprecedented heights, and build value over the long term.”
In India, Accor currently runs 38 hotels across seven brands — Sofitel, Pullman, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, ibis, Formule1 — spanning 7,621 rooms across 15 cities. The acquisition adds a Fairmont (Jaipur) and Swissôtel (Kolkata) to its kitty.
The company has appointed Chris Cahill as the Group CEO, Luxury Brands. Cahill, who will also become a member of Accor Hotels’ Executive Committee, will lead the FRHI integration process and be responsible for the strategy and global operations of Accor Hotels Luxury Brands.
Following the approval of shareholders, the transaction with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) of Saudi Arabia provided $840 million (€768 million) cash payment and the issuance of 46.7 million Accor Hotels shares in consideration for the contributed FRHI shares.
The transaction gives QIA and KHC respective stakes of 10.4 per cent and 5.8 per cent in Accor’s share capital. Ali Bouzarif and Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo from QIA and Sarmad Zok from KHC will now join Accor Hotels’ Board of Directors, the statement said.
The shareholders also approved the appointment of Jiang QiongEr, Isabelle Simon and Natacha Valla as independent directors.
“Accor Hotels plans to generate approximately €65 million in revenue and cost synergies thanks to the combination of brands, maximisation of hotel earnings, increased efficiency of marketing, sales and distribution channel initiatives, and optimisation of support costs,” the statement added.
The company’s global portfolio comprises Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel Legend, SO Sofitel, Sofitel, onefinestay, MGallery by Sofitel, Pullman, and Swissôtel; as well as the midscale and boutique brands of Novotel, Mercure, Mama Shelter and Adagio; economy brands including ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget and regional brands Grand Mercure, The Sebel and hotelF1.
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