Covivio has announced the completion of consolidating the ownership of jointly owned hotel operating and property companies with AccorInvest. At the end of this operation, initiated at the end of 2023, Covivio holds full ownership of 43 hotels located in France, Belgium and Germany, and sells to AccorInvest 16 hotels in the same regions.
By mid-2024, Covivio, through its subsidiary Covivio Hotels, owned 54 hotels leased to the AccorInvest Group under long-term variable-rent leases based on revenues. The AccorInvest group owned and operated the goodwill of these hotels, signing long-term management contracts with the Accor group.
Covivio Hotels was also indirectly the owner and asset manager of another 60 hotels leased to AccorInvest and held through 2 joint ventures created between 2010 and 2014: one held 80% by Crédit Agricole Assurances and 20% by Covivio Hotels, and the other held by Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, Société Générale Assurances and Covivio Hotels.
The finalized transaction involves the acquisition by Covivio Hotels (and its partners in the 2 joint ventures) of 43 operating companies – thus enabling the regrouping of these hotels, which will be owned by Covivio Hotels – in exchange for the transfer to AccorInvest of the properties of 16 other hotels, which will then be owned by AccorInvest.
In total, the consolidation of Covivio Hotels and the joint ventures will result in a value of €393m for the hotel properties sold by Covivio Hotels and its partners, equivalent to that of the operating companies owned and operated by the companies whose shares will be acquired.
Of the 43 hotels involved, 14 will be managed directly by Covivio’s hotel management platform, WiZiU. In order to accelerate the planned repositioning plan, Covivio will also rely on 2 other players, Atypio and Sohoma, which will operate 12 and 10 establishments respectively, via management contracts. Five hotels will continue to be operated by Accor.
With the exception of 2 hotels located in Germany, for which a new lease agreement will be signed with B&B Hotels, all the establishments will remain under the Accor brand via short- and long-term contracts. For the short-term contracts, Covivio will draw on its expertise and in-depth knowledge of the various hotel groups to choose the most suitable brand in light of the planned repositioning programmes.
Covivio plans to launch around ten renovation programmes from 2025, including the Ibis Montmartre, the Mercure hotels in Boulogne, Nice and Lyon, and the Novotel Sèvres, capitalising on the recent repositioning of the Novotel in Bruges.
The entire repositioning plan and related works represent an investment of €100m.
The Covivio Group was advised in this transaction by Natixis Partner, Etude Cheuvreux, De Pardieu Brocas Maffei, Loyens & Loeff (Belgium), J+S (Germany) and PWC.
Image source - Covivo.
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