Accor buys 97 hotels in Europe for €900m

Hotel group Accor on Tuesday announced the purchase of 97 hotels in Europe through its HotelInvest business for a total of 900 million euros ($1 billion). The group is buying a first portfolio of 86 hotels, representing 11,286 rooms across Germany and the Netherlands, which have been operated by Accor since 2007 under the Ibis, Ibis budget, Mercure and Novotel brands. These hotels, worth 722 million euros, are being sold by Moor Park Fund I and II. A second portfolio of 11 hotels in Switzerland, operated by Accor since 2008, includes Ibis, Ibis budget, Novotel and MGallery hotels, the operator said in a statement. They are being sold by Axa Real Estate. "These transactions send a strong signal of our capability to rapidly implement the strategy of restructuring the HotelInvest portfolio," said Sebastien Bazin, Accor's chief executive. "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 segment." HotelInvest wants to raise the proportion that hotels contribute to its net operating income from 68 percent to over 75 percent in the medium term. The hotel operator runs 3,600 hotels, a total of 460,000 rooms in 92 countries.