Accor Announces the Sale & Management Back of Six Sofitel Hotels in the U.S.
Paris | Accor announces the agreement to sell a portfolio of six U.S. Sofitel hotels for $370 million to a joint venture comprised of GEM Realty Capital, Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2005 and Accor. The six hotels, totaling 1,931 rooms, are located in the major metropolitan markets of Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, San Francisco Bay and Washington D.C.
Accor will remain a 25% shareholder in the joint venture and will continue to manage the hotels under the Sofitel brand name through a 25-year contract. The transaction is in line with Accor’s asset management strategy in the upper upscale segment, which is to reduce capital intensity and earnings volatility through “sale and management back” transactions.
This transaction enables Accor to partner with well-known hotel real estate investors providing opportunities to expand under management contracts the Sofitel network in North America.
“For our customers, vendors and employees, this partnership will be a seamless transition that will allow us to significantly accelerate the presence of Sofitel throughout North America,” said Georges Le Mener, president and CEO of Accor North America. “And we gain not just investors, but true partners. Whitehall already has investments in many Accor hotels worldwide. Working with GEM is a first for us, but we’re excited by the dynamism and creativity of the team, and their vision for the growth of our joint venture.”
“We are excited about the opportunity to own such a high quality portfolio of hotels in great American cities and partner with Accor, a premier international hotel management company,” said Barry Malkin, senior managing partner of GEM Realty Capital.
Accor North America is a division of Paris-based Accor S.A. GEM Realty Capital is a real estate investment company located in Chicago, Illinois. Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2005, a real estate investment fund, is sponsored and managed by Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Accor in the transaction. Proskauer Rose LLP acted as legal advisor to Accor in the transaction.
Sofitel is one the major players in the international upscale hotel market with nearly 200 properties that bring a unique French “art de vivre” to prime locations around the world.
Sofitel is now present in all of the world’s major business cities (Paris, New York, London, Washington, Berlin, Tokyo, Chicago, Bangkok, Shanghai, Manila…), all the leading holiday resorts (Mauritius, Morocco, Egypt, the West Indies, Indonesia, Brazil…) and in the world’s key international airports (Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Gatwick, Amsterdam, Chicago…).
About Sofitel North America/Accor North America
Sofitel hotels in North America also include Chicago O’Hare, Houston, New York, Philadelphia and Montreal, Canada. Accor North America is a division of Paris-based Accor S.A.
- hotels: over 4,000 hotels (over 466,000 rooms) in 92 countries, casinos, travel agencies, and restaurants;
- services to corporate clients and public institutions: 19 million people in 34 countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive, loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor.
About GEM Realty Capital, Inc. | Founded in 1994, GEM Realty Capital, Inc. is a Chicago-based real estate investment company that invests in private-market and publicly traded real estate through two lines of business, GEM Realty Properties and GEM Realty Securities. GEM invests capital on behalf of itself and clients, including pension funds, insurance companies, financial institutions, endowments, foundations, and private clients.
About Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2005 | Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2005 is the most recent of the Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, a family of opportunistic real estate funds sponsored and managed by Goldman Sachs. The Whitehall funds invest in real estate and real estate-related assets worldwide.
Jennifer Jordan
Elmore Public Relations
713-524-0661
Accor North America
