ACCOR BUYS REMAINING SHARE OF ZENITH HOTELS INTERNATIONAL

In January 2001 Accor acquired a 49 per cent stake in Zenith, and with this latest transaction Accor now owns 100 per cent of the company. The terms of the deal have not been announced. 

Deputy Chairman Asia Pacific, Jochen Dobel, said that after one year of co-operation and integration with Zenith, the timing was right to bring it into Accor's Asian hotel network.

"After updating and consolidating networks during 2001 this is the next logical step to expand our co-operation. We have learned a great deal from one another during the past year, working together to streamline costs and increase value for hotel owners."

According to Mr Dobel, Accor has spent the last year evaluating Zenith to understand the best way to use the company's expertise, which was founded as a specialist in the fast-growing Chinese hotel market.

"Integrating Zenith hotels into Accor's network strengthens our position as one of the leading international hotel management companies operating in China. 

"Existing Zenith hotels in China are complementary to our current hotel network there, and we will continue to pursue opportunities to fit their remaining hotels to Accor brands. Until that time they will continue to operate under their original brand names," Mr Dobel, added.

Zenith Chief Executive Officer, Ernst Zimmermann, will become part of Accor's senior executive management team, fine tuning the integration of remaining hotels and playing an important role for Accor in China.

Mr Zimmermann, said: "We are very happy to officially become a part of Accor in Asia and its global network. Together we can develop at a greater pace, especially in the People's Republic of China, and I look forward to being part of that development."

Currently there are six Zenith hotels (1,615 rooms) in the key Chinese cities of Dongguan, Liuyang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. An additional five hotels are also presently under development, all in mainland China.