AccorHotels Acquires Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts

PARIS—AccorHotels has signed an agreement with Mövenpick Holding and Kingdom Holding to acquire Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts for a cash amount of some $565 million (560 million Swiss francs).

The transaction implies a 14.9X 2019e EBITDA multiple before synergies (including transaction costs), and less than 10X pro forma 2019e EBITDA after run rate synergies and committed development pipeline. The transaction will have an accretive impact on group earnings from the first year, according to the company.

Founded in 1973 in Switzerland, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts operates in 27 countries with 84 hotels (more than 20,000 rooms) and a particularly strong presence in Europe and the Middle East. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts also plans to open 42 additional hotels by 2021, representing almost 11,000 rooms, with significant expansion in Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The group, which has high-end expertise in the main hotel-related services, employs more than 16,000 people worldwide.

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, in particular in Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. 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. By joining the group, it will benefit from AccorHotels’ power, particularly in terms of distribution, loyalty-building and development. This transaction illustrates the strategy we intend to pursue with the opening up of AccorInvest’s capital: to seize tactical opportunities to strengthen our positions and consolidate our leaderships, as well as leverage our growth.”

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will benefit from AccorHotels’ loyalty program, distribution channels and operating systems, which will help optimize their performance, according to the company.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. It should be completed during the second half of 2018.