First it was Marriott acquiring Starwood in late November 2015, and now in December 2015, Accor is acquiring Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel in a US$2.9 Billion worldwide deal. Oxtails announced on the 9th December, the signing of an agreement with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) of Saudi Arabia and Oxford Properties, an Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) company for the acquisition of FRHI Holdings Ltd (FRHI), parent of Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel.
FRHI includes three of the most prestigious global luxury hotel brands which is the Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel and the group has a total of 155 hotels and resorts (of which 40 are under development), and more than 56,000 rooms (of which approximately 13,000 are under development).
Its portfolio includes such legendary properties as The Savoy in London, The Plaza Hotel in New York, Raffles Singapore, Shanghai’s Fairmont Peace Hotel, Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris, Fairmont San Francisco, Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec, Fairmont Banff Springs Canada, the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, and Swissôtel The Stamford in Singapore with more than 45,000 employees under its brands.
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| Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec |
FRHI’s hotels and resorts span 34 countries across five continents, with 42 properties in North America, 2 in South America, 26 in Europe, 17 in Africa/Middle East and 28 in Asia-Pacific. They are located in the world’s major tourist destinations, particularly in the United States, the leading outbound travel market. The vast majority of hotels are operated under very long-term management contracts, with average remaining terms of nearly 30 years; six hotels are leased and one hotel is owned.
This deal is the second major hotel merger in as many months, coming on the heels of a pact between Starwood and Marriott that would create the world's largest hotel chain with more than a million rooms worldwide. Marriott acquired Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide in November 2015.
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| Accor's newest merger |
Accorhotels says it will make a cash payment of US$840 million and issue 46.7 million new Accor shares with Qatar and Saudi companies to become major Accor shareholders, with 10.5 and 5.8 per cent of the share capital, respectively. For more information, visit Accor Hotels Group Website (http://www.accorhotels-group.com/)
The recent news comes as a fantastic end to the year while the worldwide hotel industry is now talking about Accor Acquiring Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissotel in the second largest hotel dealing to date. 2016 looks like a very interesting year for the hotel industry, around the world and also here in Southeast Asia.