Bulletin: Accor S.A. Ratings Not Immediately Affected By Plan To Sell Majority Stake In AccorInvest

LONDON (S&P Global Ratings) May 24, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said the ratings and outlook on Accor S.A. (BBB-/Stable/A-3) are not immediately affected by the company's announced plan to sell 51%-90% of AccorInvest (its current guidance is 70%) and to deconsolidate it from mid-2017. We anticipate that the proposed transaction will have some benefits for Accor's business risk profile thanks to the higher margins and lower volatility and capital-intensiveness of HotelServices' fee-based business model. These benefits will offset the loss of scale, product diversity, and cash flows for Accor as a result of the transaction. We also believe that if Accor no longer controls AccorInvest, and this is recognized in a deconsolidation of AccorInvest from AccorHotels' accounts (as announced by the

...LONDON (S&P Global Ratings) May 24, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said the ratings and outlook on Accor S.A. (###-/Stable/A-3) are not immediately affected by the company's announced plan to sell 51%-90% of AccorInvest (its current guidance is 70%) and to deconsolidate it from mid-2017. We anticipate that the proposed transaction will have some benefits for Accor's business risk profile thanks to the higher margins and lower volatility and capital-intensiveness of HotelServices' fee-based business model. These benefits will offset the loss of scale, product diversity, and cash flows for Accor as a result of the transaction. We also believe that if Accor no longer controls AccorInvest, and this is recognized in a deconsolidation of AccorInvest from AccorHotels' accounts (as announced by the company), we will most likely deconsolidate the entity from our calculation of Accor's credit metrics and add back the pro rata dividends. Under the proposed structure, we anticipate that the group's unsecured...

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