ACCOR, the giant French hotel, catering and service company, will seek a Hongkong listing for a regional unit this year as part of its expansion plans. The subsidiary, Accor Asia Pacific Corp, aims to list in Sydney in June, and will follow up by seeking a secondary listing on the Hongkong exchange. The group aims to raise US$200 million through the listings to fund the expansion and development in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Accor's China and North Asia managing director Roy Olsson, the money will be the group's ''war chest''. ''This is part of our push into Asia-Pacific,'' he said. Accor's Hongkong listing is certain to create interest as the group has no property in the territory. ''The proposed listing is to give us a presence here in Hongkong,'' he said. In Australia, the group hopes to raise A$90 million (about HK$500 million), with the remaining capitalisation expected to come from contributions of existing shareholders. ''Basically, we are recapitalising Accor Asia Pacific, which includes all our assets, equity investments in Asia Pacific plus all on-going contracts we have and others,'' he said. He declined to disclose the number of shares to be issued in Australia, saying that a ''substantial block'' will be offered to the public and that the underwriting was in place. ''We are currently going through the due diligence exercise to ensure that we meet all regulatory requirements of the Australian Stock Exchange,'' he said. He emphasised that Accor would maintain a major shareholding in the company. ''Whatever we do, we maintain a major shareholding in a company. That is our policy,'' he said. Accor's proposed listing follows recent confirmation by the Shangri-La hotel group of plans to list on the Hongkong exchange, also at the end of this year. It also comes within days of Wharf (Holdings) releasing plans to privatise hotel group Harbour Centre for $1.23 billion. Accor is the largest hotel and services operator in the world with 1,900 hotels, 6,000 restaurants, 1,000 travel agencies and a car hire service involving 100,000 vehicles.
