The French hotel group Accor will take a 28.9 percent stake in vacation group Club Med as part of a drive to offer a full range of services to business and leisure clients, Accor said yesterday.
It will pay a total 252 million euros (US$302 million) for a 21.2 percent Club Med stake held by the Italian group Agnelli and a 7.7 percent share held by the French state-owned Caisse des Depots et Consignations investment body.
The deal makes Accor the core shareholder in Club Med, which posted yesterday in Marrakesh, Morocco a reduction in first-half net loss to 4 million euros (US$4.8 million) from 29 million in the same period a year earlier.
Club Med said sales in the first half of its financial year which ended April 30 had risen by 2.4 percent on a comparable basis to 784 million euros.
An Accor statement released in Paris said the acquisition reaffirmed "its commitment to playing a leadership role" in the global tourism industry. Accor is the leading European hotel group and one of the world largest travel and tourism companies with nearly 4,000 hotels in 90 countries.
The transaction is subject to approval by monopoly and merger commissions, the statement said.
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