AccorHotels purchases Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts for US$567m

French company AccorHotels has signed an agreement to purchase Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts from Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company for CHF560m (US$5.7m), 30 April. Mövenpick operates in 27 countries with 84 hotels and is set to open an additional 42 hotels by 2021. Kingdom Holding has been an investor in Mövenpick for nearly two decades – its domestic interests make up about half of the company’s assets, including the 1 km-high tower under construction in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal is reported to own a third of Mövenpick shares. The deal marks the first publicly disclosed divestment by prince Alwaleed since being released from detention in late January. In an interview with Bloomberg in March, the prince said he’s “likely to split his company’s $13bn of assets through a spinoff of its domestic property and other holdings.” Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO of AccorHotels, said: “With the acquisition of Mövenpick, we are consolidating our leadership in the European market and are further accelerating our growth in emerging markets.” Bazin added: “The Mövenpick brand is the perfect combination of modernity and authenticity and ideally complements our portfolio. Its European-Swiss heritage is a perfect fit with AccorHotels.” According to a report by Bloomberg, “Accor has taken steps in recent years to diversify from budget hotels,” mentioning too that the acquisition of Mövenpick follows its 2016 purchase of FRHI, the operator of the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel chains. The French company has also agreed to buy a 50% stake in South Africa’s Mantis Group. This acquisition further consolidates AccorHotels’ current footprint in Europe and in the Middle East, burgeoning growth in key regions, namely Africa and Asia. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is scheduled for completion during the second half of 2018.