AccorHotels, shareholder of Air France-KLM in place of the French State ? On Sunday evening, the hotel group announced its interest in taking over the 14.3 % stake in the airline. This would make it the largest shareholderin front of Delta Air Lines and China Eastern, which took a stake in Air France-KLM last year and both hold 8.8 % of the shares in the Franco-Dutch group.
There's no doubt about it a thunderclapand a new dynamic for the airline. During Air France's troubled period, many observers pointed out the perverse side of public ownership, with the feeling that the State would always be there to take care of the airline leading to a form of "public fatigue".immobilism within the company.
The hotel group makes no secret of the fact that it has been considering this solution for some time. In a press release, it states that "AccorHotels has held discussions with Air France-KLM on several occasions in recent years (...). These discussions included the possibility of AccorHotels acquiring a minority stake in Air France-KLM in order to bolster this industrial growth project."For the time being, these reflections are still at an early stage.at an early stage as to the feasibility of the project and the conditions for carrying it out, which will be the subject of discussions with Air France-KLM when the time comes"says the hotel group. Market reaction to this announcement could influence AccorHotels' final decision.
Why this interest? The synergies between these two heavyweights in the travel industry are obvious. Also in its press release, the hotel group states that it has discussed with Air France-KLM the development of "joint digital projects and a shared loyalty and services platform which will enable customers of both groups to benefit from an enhanced range of mobility services throughout the world."In keeping with its strategy of diversifying its business into hotel-related activities - the concierge service with John Paulcatering and events with Noctis, and private flat rentals with onefinestay - AccorHotels would be tackling a key issue - customer transport - to strengthen its position in the face of the major players in online travel.
But the transfer of the State's shares could have another benefit for AccorHotels, that of solidifying its own shareholder base. According to Les Echos, three solutions are being considered for this acquisition of a stake: either a total sale of Air France-KLM's shares - a highly political decision that would certainly make some people cringe -, or a partial sale, or an exchange between the State's 14.3 % stake in Air France-KLM for shares in AccorHotels. A solution that could turn out to be winner-winnerThe State would become a shareholder in a dynamic group with good prospects for share appreciation, while AccorHotels would find, through the State, a solid counterweight to its Chinese shareholders, in particular JinJiang, which owns more than 10TP3T of the hotel group.
