SWEDEN Accor has sold its entire Sweden portfolio—14 Ibis hotels and four Formule 1 properties—to a joint venture between private equity firm Sveafastigheter and operator Event Holding.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Accor will continue to flag the 18 budget hotels, comprising 1,760 guestrooms, under a franchise agreement. Hotels in the transaction include the 255-key Ibis Malmo, the 143-key Ibis Sundsvall City and the 120-key Ibis Goteborg City.
The company also announces the launch of a new phase of expansion across the region, based on franchise and management contracts, particularly in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Accor will retain its international sales office for Scandinavia in Sweden.
Based in Cologne, Event Holding is a longtime Accor franchisee that already operates Pullman, Mercure, All Seasons and Ibis hotels.
The transaction is part of Accor’s multiyear program to sell €2 billion worth of hotel property assets between by 2013, of which €600 million to €650 million will come this year.