Accor Buys Two Major Asian Regional Hotel Groups

SINGAPORE— Accor has increased its network of hotels in the Asia Pacific region to over 200 properties with the acquisition of two Hong Kong-based hotel management companies— Century International Hotels and Zenith Hotels International. It is the largest-ever consolidation of Asian hotels into a global hotel network. Accor has purchased the remaining 75% of Century, bringing its shareholding to 100%. This followed a similar move to acquire the remaining 51% of shares in Zenith. Accor now fully owns both management companies. Century, under founder Brian Deeson, has built one of the largest Asian regional networks with 16 managed properties (5,033 rooms) in six countries (China/Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam). Last year, Accor purchased 25% of the company and five of the hotels were re-branded to Accors Novotel and Ibis brands. Accors Deputy Chairman Asia Pacific, Jochen Dobel, said that the integration of Centurys hotels into the Accor group was now complete and all the hotels were now fully represented in Accors operational, sales, marketing and distribution systems. Dobel added that Presiden/CEO Brian Deeson would remain at the helm of Century, in addition to becoming a svp with Accor- Asia Pacific region. In a separate agreement, Accor purchased the remaining 51% of shares in Zenith, following its initial 49% purchase in 2001. Currently there are six Zenith hotels (1,615 rooms) in several key Chinese cities. An additional five hotels are also presently under development, all in mainland China. Zenith CEO Ernst Zimmermann will become part of Accors senior executive management team, fine tuning the integration of remaining hotels and playing an important role for Accor in China.