Accor Hires Banks for Ennismore’s U.S. IPO: Report

Key Points

• Accor has lined up four banks—Goldman Sachs leading, with BNP Paribas, JPMorgan and Société Générale—for a potential U.S. IPO of its Ennismore lifestyle venture, possibly this year, marking the most concrete step in a nearly year-long process.
• An IPO appears to be winning out over other options (buying out or replacing co-investors) to meet a ‘liquidity commitment’ to founder Sharan Pasricha and a Qatari consortium, with a decision expected by the fall.
• Valuation estimates center around €3.2 billion ($3.7 billion) per Bloomberg Intelligence—the low end of analyst ranges reaching up to $5.8 billion—versus the €2 billion valuation from the 2022 Qatari investment deal.

Summary

Accor has reportedly engaged Goldman Sachs (as lead), along with BNP Paribas, JPMorgan and Société Générale, to prepare a potential U.S. listing of Ennismore, its lifestyle hotel joint venture behind brands including The Hoxton and Delano, with a listing possible as soon as this year. Hiring bankers marks the most concrete step yet in a spinout Accor has weighed for nearly a year and signals that an IPO is emerging as the preferred route over alternatives such as buying out or replacing co-investors—founder Sharan Pasricha and a Qatari consortium—to satisfy a “liquidity commitment” CEO Sébastien Bazin says must be resolved by the fall. Ennismore, which Accor has flagged as its best-performing division, could fetch a valuation of around €3.2 billion ($3.7 billion) per Bloomberg Intelligence, at the low end of analyst estimates that ranged up to $5.8 billion, and well above the €2 billion valuation from the 2022 deal that brought in the Qatari investors. Accor characterizes the process as still in an “exploration phase.”