AccorHotels and Chilean investment group Algeciras have signed an agreement to acquire Atton Hoteles, which operates 11 hotels (2,259 rooms) across Chile, Peru, Colombia and the United States.
As per the agreement, AccorHotels will acquire 100% of the management company that operates the hotels as well as 20% of the property company that owns these assets. The remaining 80% of the property assets will be acquired by Algeciras. Most of the properties will be initially co-branded with the AccorHotels name before being fully rebranded under Accor’s Pullman, Novotel, MGallery and Mercure names.
Total cash consideration for AccorHotels will be US$105 million, including approximately US$80 million for the operating company, and US$26 million for the 20% stake in the real estate arm. The transaction, expected to close in the second half of 2018, is expected to have an accretive impact on group earnings from the first year. AccorHotels will have a put option to sell its 20% in the properties to Algeciras after five years.
This acquisition further consolidates AccorHotels current footprint in Latin America, where it has 335 hotels operating and 166 under development.
Atton Hoteles, founded in Chile in 2000, cater to the business travelers on the midscale and upscale segment. It currently has three hotels under development.
In a move that insiders were expecting for the past six months, Arturo Garcia Rosa, Uruguay-based president and founder of SAHIC, the South American Hotel Investment Conference, told HOTELS on Monday that this move gives AccorHotels an even greater presence in Latin America, beyond its stronghold in Brazil. “Accor will take advantage of the terrific job Atton has done growing in markets where the economy has grown, and will push much further due their tremendous global distribution task,” Garcia said. “And don’t forget the Atton in Miami, ‘the capital of Latin America’ for so many Latin Americans. It has given the brand tremendous exposure.”
Garcia added that so many investors from Chile who trust Atton’s CEO Francisco Levine have now achieved a great return. “On the other hand, several Latin hotel groups were approached for this deal but none of them consider that this was the right time to go ahead,” Garcia said. “It seems to me that they lost a great opportunity for their growth plans.”