Hospitality firm Accor has signed an agreement with a
consortium of five banks for a new €560 million Revolving Credit Facility
(RCF), shoring up its existing, undrawn €1.2 billion agreement signed in July
2018 and reinforcing its liquidity in the face of the coronavirus crisis.
In total, the group has €4 billion of available liquidity,
including €2.5 billion cash at hand as of the end of March 2020 and the two
RCFs.
The new facility has been underwritten by BNP Paribas,
Credit Agricole CIB, Credit Industriel at Commercial, Natixis and Societe
Generale.
Accor has started implementing a cash preservation plan, which
includes the suspension of share buyback programmes, the withdrawal of the 2019
dividend, cost-saving measures, a reduction in recurring investments and the
suspension of external growth transactions.
The group said it is seeing some recovery in RevPAR in
China, while more of its hotels are reopening on a daily basis across Asia and
Europe, particularly in Germany where lockdown measures are being eased. It has
reopened 250 hotels worldwide since the end of April, with 42 per cent of its
network currently operating.
The news comes as Accor launched a previously-announced
enhanced hotel cleanliness programme developed and vetted by Bureau Veritas,
which includes an ALLSAFE “label” (pictured) for properties to display that shows it
passes the group’s new standards for cleanliness and operational procedures.