DUBAI (Reuters) - Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding (SE:4280) and its partners have agreed to sell Movenpick Hotels and Resorts to its associate firm AccorHotels (PA:ACCP).
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2018, Kingdom Holding said in a statement. Kingdom has a 5.7 percent stake in Accor SA.
AccorHotels said earlier it had agreed to buy rival Movenpick Hotels & Resorts for 560 million Swiss francs ($567 million), in a deal which Accor said would boost its earnings and marks the latest example of the French group's ambitious takeover strategy.
Founded in 1973 in Switzerland, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts operates in 27 countries with 84 hotels, and has a strong presence in Europe and the Middle East.
Earlier this year, Kingdom sold its stake in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beirut for around $100-115 million including debt, sources had told Reuters.
Prince Alwaleed, the kingdom's most recognized business figure, was freed on Jan. 27 after being held at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel for three months on the orders of his cousin Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of an anti-corruption crackdown.
Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi King Salman, is closely watched in international markets because of investments in companies such as Citigroup Inc (N:C) and Twitter (N:TWTR).