Accor acquires 28.9% Stake in Club Méditerranée

Accor is acquiring a 28.9% equity interest in Club Méditerranée, including the 21.2% of shares held by Agnelli Group (Exor/Ifil) and 7.7% held by Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC). With the acquisition, Accor will become the core shareholder in Club Méditerranée, which enjoys forefront brand identity and expertise in the leisure segment. The transaction is subject to approval by the monopolies and mergers commissions.

The transaction will be based on an acquisition price of 45 euros for each Club Méditerranée share, for a total of 252 million euros, plus an earn-out clause, representing a maximum of 41 million euros as for the Agnelli Group and 550,000 Accor shares as for the CDC Group. It will be financed by ORANE convertible bonds, available to every shareholders, for a total of 280 million euros, based on one 40 euros bond per Accor share. CDC has agreed to underwrite the issue, if necessary in full, to facilitate the transaction.

By becoming Club Méditerranée’s core shareholder, with the full support of its management, Accor will help the company to strengthen its profitability. Accor’s position as an industry leader in Europe and a major force in global tourism will also enable Club Méditerranée to successfully pursue its strategy of moving up-market and its development.

In creating this strategic partnership with Club Méditerranée, Accor, which operates, out of 4,000 hotels, 200 leisure properties in 35 countries, is reaffirming its commitment to playing a leadership role in this growing segment that is certain to become increasingly structured. For many years, Accor’s strategy has been to offer a comprehensive range of products and services worldwide to business and leisure customers, who often overlap.

“We are confident in the Club Méditerranée management team and the Chairman of its Executive Board, who have already gotten the company’s turnaround off to a good start. With Henri Giscard d’Estaing and his teams, we will quickly and realistically study possible synergies as well as all operating and marketing opportunities beneficial to both companies. We will also promote cross-fertilization of experience. The closer ties offer interesting prospects for both companies,” said Jean-Marc Espalioux, Chairman of the Accor Management Board, who emphasized “the image of leisure hotels, for which demand will inevitably increase, reflects favorably on all Accor hotels at a time when our properties want to tailor their offers more closely to the changing tastes of non-business, leisure and weekend customers.”