GIANT French hospitality group Accor has entered into a new partnership with Ennismore, the parent company of The Hoxton hotel chain, to form what they termed as “the world’s leading lifestyle operator in the hospitality sector.”
Through the all-share merger the new entity will bring together Ennismore’s The Hoxton (series of open-house hotels), Gleneagles in Edinburgh and Working From_ (new shared workspace brand) with Accor’s Delano, SLS, Mondrian, SO/, Hyde, Mama Shelter, 25h, 21c Museum Hotels, Tribe and Jo&Joe brands.
“Accor will be the majority shareholder of the new entity, with Ennismore’s founder and CEO Sharan Pasricha holding a substantial minority position,” disclosed Accor in a statement.
The new company will be headquartered in London and will continue to be called Ennismore, with Gaurav Bhushan, CEO of Accor Lifestyle division, joining Pasricha as co-CEOs. Each brand in the portfolio will retain its own unique identity.
In order to form the new company Accor also announced it will take full ownership of sbe Group whose hotel brands include the Delano, Mondrian, SLS and Hyde, as well as the group’s F&B brands including Cleo, Fili’a or Carna by Dario Cecchini. These brands will be at the heart of the newly created global lifestyle platform.
Accor will pay US$300 million for the remaining 50% of sbe it did not already own. It acquired a 50% stake in sbe in late 2018. The lifestyle hospitality group currently operates 22 hotels, with more than 40 properties in the pipeline including Mondrian London and SLS Dubai slated to open next year.
Accor also plans to buy out its partners in Mama Shelter and 25h.
The combined lifestyle entity will comprise 12 brands with 73 hotels and 150 destination restaurant and bars. In the committed pipeline are more than 110 hotels and another 70 hotels under active discussion.
Commenting on the deal Accor chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin said: “Lifestyle, entertainment, places with a soul have been at the heart of our development and growth strategy over the last years. Partnering with Ennismore’s founder Sharan and his great teams will take our lifestyle ambition to a new and exciting level,” said
The Accor-Ennismore deal is expected to close by early 2021.
According to Accor, the lifestyle platform should “achieve an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of over €100 million (US$119 million) by midterm, the project resulting in significant cost synergies of approximately €15m per year.”
It added that “growth will be accelerated, building on a strong footprint in Europe and the US and a rapidly expanding presence in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and South America supported by Accor’s development teams.”
• Featured image credit (Mondrian Seoul Itaewon): Accor
