PARIS — AccorHotels’ deal to buy Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel parent company FRHI Holdings, reportedly worth close to US$3 billion, gives the French hotel group a global collection of 155 hotels and resorts including 40 under development.
AccorHotels is taking over FRHI Holdings from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) of Saudi Arabia and Oxford Properties, an Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). Both the Qatar and Saudi companies are to become major Accor shareholders, with 10.5 and 5.8% of the share capital respectively.
In Canada, the hotels include the Fairmont Banff Springs in Alberta and Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec.
Other well-known properties covered by the deal are Raffles Singapore, the Savoy in London, Shanghai’s Fairmont Peace Hotel and the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Overall FRHI has hotels and resorts in 34 countries across five continents, with 42 properties in North America, two in South America, 26 in Europe, 17 in the Africa-Middle East region and 28 in the Asia-Pacific region. AccorHotels has almost 500 luxury and upscale properties.
The acquisition of the three global brands will strategically enhance AccorHotels’ brand portfolio, and will provide AccorHotels with a better-balanced business profile, said the company.
The integration of Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel will also broaden the Group’s geographic footprint in the luxury segment, and enable it to optimize its luxury and upscale brands in order to adapt its offering to the expectations “of an increasingly demanding clientele”.
With nearly 500 luxury and upscale properties, AccorHotels will become one of the key global players in this segment and will be able to offer the most profitable management contracts and the best growth potential in many markets. FRHI teams will bolster AccorHotels’ expertise in the luxury segment and provide the Group with new ambitions, through targeted, value-creative expansion.
AccorHotels says it aims to generate around $71 million in revenue and cost synergies. Significant improvements will also be made in terms of customer data, thanks to the integration of a customer base including three million loyalty members, of which 75% are North Americans.
