Accor agreed to buy the owner of the luxury Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel brands for about €2.65 billion in shares and cash.
Europe’s biggest hotel operator will pay 46.7 million new shares and $840 million in cash for FRHI Holdings, Accor said in a statement on Wednesday. Accor’s buying the company from Qatar Investment Authority, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding and Oxford Properties Group.
Paris-based Accor, which operates the Ibis and Sofitel chains, has 3,800 hotels worldwide. FRHI, based in Toronto, has more than 100 high-end hotels, including Manhattan’s Plaza, London’s Savoy and Raffles in Singapore, and 40 under development.
The deal “offers us robust and global leadership in luxury hotels, a key segment in terms of geographic reach, growth potential and profitability,” Accor Chief Executive Officer Sebastien Bazin said in the statement. “We are positioning ourselves as a key player in the current industry consolidation process.”
FRHI was put up for sale earlier this year by its owners. It was reported in September that London-listed InterContinental Hotels Group was considering making a bid, but none materialised.
News by Bloomberg, edited by Hospitality Ireland
