19 March 2017
Kingdom Holding 5.8% owner of AccorHotels

Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy joined the AccorHotels’ Board of Directors in which Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud holds a 5.8% stake, to support its international expansion plan.

In 2016, KHC announced that it has successfully completed the combination of its Fairmont Raffles luxury hotel platform with France-based hospitality group AccorHotels.

The transaction completion came after the announcement on December 9, 2015 that AccorHotels had signed an agreement with KHC, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and Oxford Properties, an Ontario pension fund company, for the acquisition of FRHI Holdings Ltd (FRHI), parent of Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel hotel brands. The transaction was announced legally complete following the approval by AccorHotels’ Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting of the reserved capital increase and Board representations for KHC and QIA. AccorHotels had cleared all antitrust approvals in relevant jurisdictions in April 2016.

Per the terms of the agreement between KHC and AccorHotels, KHC is now a 5.8% shareholder in AccorHotels in a $3.2 billion deal with one representative on the Board of Directors.

Commenting on this milestone transaction, HRH Prince Alwaleed said, “Since we acquired our interest in Fairmont Hotels Management Company in 1994, we have built the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel brands from five hotels under management to 114 contracts today and a further 40 in the pipeline. With the combination of FRHI into AccorHotels, KHC becomes a significant shareholder in one of the largest and most diverse hospitality platforms in the world with over 4,000 hotels and 560,000 rooms under management.” HRH further added, “We extend our full support to Accor’s management as they position the company for further growth, innovation, and value realization.”

Founded in 1980, KHC is a publicly traded company which was listed on Tadawul (the Saudi Stock Exchange) in 2007. Today, KHC is one of the world’s most successful and diversified business organizations with investments across 12 sectors. For over two decades, the company has been a leading player in the global hospitality industry, building shareholder value by acquiring, developing, actively asset managing and monetizing high-quality hospitality assets.

© Press Release 2017