The current crisis will undoubtedly bring its share of mergers, disappearances and takeovers among tourism players, hard hit by an unprecedented fall in demand in both the airline and hotel sectors. At a time when the groups are all struggling, with revenues per room down by more than 50 % in the first half of 2020the possibility of a merger between France's Accor and Britain's IHG has resurfaced. A union that is often talked about, appearing at regular intervals like that of BNP Paribas and Société Générale in banking, but which has so far never been put into effect.
Will it be any different this time? Nothing is less certain. However, it is clear that Le Figaro revealed on 19 August that the French group had this project in mind: " At the beginning of June, CEO Sébastien Bazin set up a team dedicated to this project, with his finance director, Jean-Jacques Morin, and the investment banks Centerview and Rothschild. "Accor did not wish to comment on this information, and time for caution than big announcements. The daily Les Echos notes that " Sébastien Bazin, who has favoured "targeted" acquisitions since his appointment nearly seven years ago, is said to have been cautious in the depressed context of the health crisis. "According to reports, no official contact has been made between the management teams of the two groups.
Whether or not the two parties ever marry, the marriage between Accor and IHG would create the world's largest hotel group, ahead of Marriott. Sector leader since the absorption of Starwood in 2016the American group had 1.4 million rooms worldwide by the end of June 2020, while the Franco-British duo would exceed 1.6 million rooms. While IHG had 883,364 rooms and 5,918 hotels at the end of the first half of the year, Accor had 747,805 rooms and 5099 hotels. These two groups are fairly similar in size, and if they were to merge, they would be able to play on the strengths of each other. the complementary nature of their networksBoth groups have made Asia a priority for their future development. In addition to their flagship economy and mid-range brands such as Ibis, Novotel and Holiday Inn, these two groups would also have a dominant position in luxury and top-of-the-range hotels. It remains to be seen what the real intentions of their managers and shareholders are.
