Predica, FdM complete EUR 378m deal with Accor

Crédit Agricole's Predica unit and French real estate investment trust Foncière des Murs (FdM) announced that their 80/20 partnership has finalised the EUR 378 mln acquisition of a portfolio of 49 hotels from the Accor group.

The transaction, which was first announced in August 2010, involves 32 hotels in France, 10 in Belgium and seven in Germany.

To date 43 of the hotels have been acquired, and the remaining six will be purchased in the course of 2011, the companies said. Key hotels in the portfolio include the Ibis Roissy hotel offering 772 rooms and the Ibis Porte d'Italie in Paris with 257 rooms

As part of the agreement, the Accor group is retaining ownership of the business and the management of the hotels which will continue to be operated under the Etap, Ibis, Novotel and SuiteHotel brands with a rental price amounting to an average of 19% of the turnover.

Accor's disposal is part of the French group's strategy to remake itself as a major franchiser and operator of hotels, rather than a hotel owner.

The operation is the latest property disposal by the French hotel group in Europe. In September 2009 Accor sold and leased back 158 budget hotels representing a total of 12,300 rooms in France for EUR 272 mln.

The disposal was carried out with a consortium of French institutional investors through a property investment trust (OPCI). In 2007, Accor divested 148 hotels in France, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands for nearly EUR 1.5 bn.