Paris, Accor has signed a binding pre-agreement with Dr. Herbert Ebertz, the primary shareholder of German hotel-industry leader Dorint AG. Under the terms of the agreement, and following a capital increase approved by Dorint AG shareholders at a Shareholders' Meeting on Friday August 16, in Hamburg, Accor will hold a 26% interest in the German group.

Both parties shared objective is to establish, with the approval by the corporate bodies of Dorint AG, a strategic partnership to develop commercial and managerial ties between Dorint's properties and Accor's Sofitel, Novotel and Mercure hotels and to increase Dorint's financial position.

The agreements will be definitively implemented after the appropriate competition authorities have examined them.

Over the past five years, Dorint AG has acquired a forefront position in the German market by developing four and five-star hotels in all of the country's main cities. In all, the group operates 91 hotels, of which 75 in Germany. It also has some 20 properties under construction or in development.

With 147,000 associates in 140 countries, Accor is the European leader and one of the world's largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services, with two major international activities:

• hotels: more than 3,700 hotels (423,000 rooms) in 90 countries, casinos, travel agencies, and restaurants;
• services to corporate clients and public institutions: each day, 13 million people in 31 countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive, loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor.