Accor May Use SPAC to Own Real Estate While Still Trumpeting Asset-Light Strategy
Skift Take
Accor doesn't want to own real estate, but it does want to throttle ahead with growth in the lifestyle hotel sector — where many of the remaining independent operators own their real estate. A SPAC can help Accor balance this kind of conflict in future acquisitions.
Accor is the latest company to dive into the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, merger market.
But the fact that the Paris-based hotel company behind brands like Novotel and Raffles would want to be in the driver’s seat of this kind of deal has analysts predicting this all boils down to keeping real estate holdings off Accor’s balance sheet.
“When public companies like Accor are looking for a SPAC, they probably want to make an acquisition that doesn't exactly fit with their current business model,” said Nicolas Graf, associate dean at New York University’s Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality.
Accor’s SPAC listing, named the Accor Acquisition Co., would target companies in the lifestyle and leisure sectors as well as flexible working and travel technology, the company confirmed Thursday morning after this story first published. AAC plans to raise as much as $366 million under such a deal while Accor's investment in the SPAC "will not be material," according to the company's announcement.
The potential SPAC’s focus is in keeping with the company’s ongoing expan
