Late July 2026 saw Accor sign a definitive agreement to sell its 30.7% stake in Essendi, completing the long process of transforming the company into an asset-light hotel operator.
The disposal will see a consortium of investors take over the property owning vehicle, which holds a substantial number of international hotels, all operating under Accor brands. Blackstone and Colony IM are leading the consortium, which will pay Accor an initial consideration of EUR675 million, to be followed by an additional earn-out sum, depending on performance, of up to EUR300 million.
A Boost for Shareholders
Accor has said it will return most of the proceeds from the sale, to shareholders. A EUR500 million share buyback programme is planned, in addition to any other previously planned share buybacks.
The deal is the end of a long road for Accor, which under the leadership of CEO Sebastien Bazin, has sought to move from a hotel group which owned many of its hotels, to a purely operational group. This puts Accor’s structure in line with other international hotel groups such as Hilton, Marriott and IHG, which typically own none of their hotels. This so-called “asset light” business model leaves ownership of the hotel property assets in the hands of other investors, with the brand company focused instead on marketing, distribution and the growth of their brand portfolios.
The asset-light model, while favoured by the major listed hotel groups, is not universally applied. Hyatt, for example, continues to invest in its hotels, preferring to use capital to ensure it secures and develops hotels in key markets. Other listed hotel groups, such as Whitbread in the UK and Germany, continues to own a substantial portion of their own hotels – though agitating investors sometimes push for them to shift to the asset light model.
More than a decade ago, Accor established its hotel ownership division, initially called HotelInvest. In 2017, it set up AccorInvest as a separate legal entity to hold all the property assets of the group.
By early 2018, Accor had successfully attracted outside investors to buy a stake in AccorInvest. An initial 55% stakeholding was proposed for sale, to investors including Saudi Arabia’s PIF, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, plus a range of other major asset investors. In the end, by the middle of that year, investors paid EUR4.6 billion for 57.8% of AccorInvest shares.
A Refocus on Europe
In the following years, the group bought east European hotel group Orbis, then set about disposing of key parts of the portfolio, to refocus it on European economy and midscale hotels – brands such as Ibis and Novotel. A further renaming was completed in 2025, under the new brand of Essendi.
As part of the disposal agreement, Accor will shift the Essendi properties into franchise agreements, in place of any leases or management agreements previously in place. The new agreements will have, on average, 20 year contract durations, providing both parties with a guarantee of continuity over the next few years.
