...Splitting the Business: AccorHotels' plans to turn hotel landlord and lease holder HotelInvest (HI) into a separate legal subsidiary should have no immediate impact on its ratings. However, the eventual sale of a majority stake in HI could have significant rating implications. The final set-up of the group and its financial structure and policy, will be critical to our assessment of the ultimate effect on unsecured creditors at the holding company level. Asset-Light the Objective: The project to turn HI into a new legal entity will accelerate the group's "twin track" asset-light strategy, eventually shifting the risks and rewards associated with property ownership to investors who prefer real estate. AccorHotels/HotelServices (HS) will adopt key elements of the less capital-intensive, less volatile recurring fee-based business models that are common among Anglo-Saxon lodging groups. Possible Deconsolidation of HI: If AccorHotels were to own less than 50% of HI, Fitch Ratings would probably...
