Accor Completes $225 Million Sale Manageback of Sofitel Hotels in Philadelphia & Manhattan

Bloomberg Europe - January 8, 2007

Accor SA, the world's fourth-largest lodging company, sold its luxury Sofitel hotels in New York and Philadelphia for $225 million to a venture of which it owns 25 percent, to help reduce debt.

Paris-based Accor said in a statement today that it agreed to continue managing the hotels for 25 years. Last March, the company sold Sofitel hotels in six other cities to the venture for $370 million. Other partners are Chicago-based Gem Realty Capital Inc. and Whitehall Street Global Real Estate LP 2005, a $3.2 billion- fund managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Accor may sell its remaining U.S. Sofitel hotel, in Houston, to another buyer, said Janice Maragakis, an Accor spokeswoman in Dallas. ``We're working on another deal separate from this. There should be an announcement on that by the end of the month,'' Maragakis said in a telephone interview.

The Manhattan and Philadelphia hotels have a combined 704 rooms. The Manhattan hotel is located on West 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The Sofitel Philadelphia is at 17th and Sansom Streets, a site previously occupied by the city's stock exchange. Sphere: Related Content