European hospitality giant Accor is offloading nearly half its stake in Chinese hotel operator Huazhu Group Limited for $451 million.
It entered into an agreement to sell 5% although Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor, will keep his seat on Huazhu’s board of directors.
Accor says it is just realizing its investment which has grown 4.5 times since buying into the company in January 2016.
"Accor and Huazhu will continue to develop their successful partnership which has enabled the openings of 200 economy and midscale hotels in China," Accor said.
They have been mainly in the ibis, Novotel and Mercure brands.
Accor also plans to open 250 more properties in the next three years.
Huazhu is the world’s fifth-largest hotel group by market capitalisation and operates more than 5,000 hotels.
While known predominantly within the Chinese speaking world, it is expanding aggressively overseas too.
It recently agreed to buy Germany’s Deutsche Hospitality for $781 million.
Deutsche operates a number of well-known brands including Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts.
