AccorHotels has moved to acquire the remaining shares in Polish hotel owner Orbis it does not already own today, representing 47.31 per cent of the company’s capital.

The French giant filed paperwork with the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego) earlier, tendering an offer in cash for the 21,800,593 outstanding shares.

The deal is valued at €442 million.

Orbis, which is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, is the largest hotel operator in central and eastern Europe and the exclusive master franchisee of certain AccorHotels brands in the region.

Its portfolio comprises 128 hotels (21,000 rooms) in 16 countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia) operated under the Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget brands.

The offer, at a price of 87.0 zlotys per share, is unconditional and is priced at a 20 per cent premium over the closing price of the day prior to the announcement.

Sebastien Bazin, chairman and chief executive of AccorHotels, said: “AccorHotels and Orbis have built a long-term partnership since their first business agreement 45 years ago.

“As its largest shareholder since 2000, AccorHotels has fully supported Orbis’ growth in Poland, then across central Europe since 2014, where Orbis has become today a formidable leader.

“The proposed transaction will enable AccorHotels to accelerate its development in the region.

“In addition, it will enable AccorHotels to further implement its active asset management policy.” 

Through this transaction, AccorHotels intends to consolidate its leadership in central Europe and improve optionality on Orbis’ asset portfolio management, including replication of the active asset management strategy implemented by AccorHotels for several years.

AccorHotels has decided to launch the offer to initiate the delisting of Orbis’ shares from the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

If upon the completion of the offer, in January, AccorHotels holds shares in the share capital of the company constituting at least 90 per cent of the share capital of Orbis, the French company intends to proceed with a squeeze-out of the minority shareholders of the company.