The French hotel group Accor announced on Friday the raising of 300 million euros from its Spac, a company with no operational activity whose securities will be listed on the Paris Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
Read also: Accor prepares purchases outside the hotel industry
The Spac, called Accor Acquisition Company (AAC),
"has successfully raised 300 million euros as part of a private placement of units that will be admitted to trading on Euronext Paris,"
said Accor in a
press
release. Via this Spac, the hotel giant wishes to
"acquire one or more companies in sectors related to the heart of Accor's hotel business"
, such as catering, bars, flexible offices, well-being, entertainment and l events or technologies related to the hotel industry. In the context of the crisis, experts expect market opportunities to accelerate, such as divestments or mergers and acquisitions.
The offer consisted of a private placement of 30 million units, each consisting of one market share and one share subscription warrant, at a unit price of 10 euros.
On the basis of this placement, Accor would hold approximately 24.5% of the capital of AAC.
No other shareholder would hold more than 10% of the capital of AAC, details the press release.
First European corporate Spac
"With this successful placement, Accor Acquisition Company becomes the first European corporate Spac"
, that is to say the first Spac to be sponsored by a company, in this case Accor, indicated its CEO, Sébastien Bazin quoted in the communicated. Usually, Spacs are promoted by successful entrepreneurs or personalities like rapper Jay-Z or former basketball star Shaquille O'Neal in the United States. In France, Xavier Niel (founder of Iliad Free), investment banker Matthieu Pigasse, and distribution specialist Moez-Alexandre Zouari launched Spac 2MX Organic in December.
