About

The Accor legal department is led from the front by François Pinon, who, in addition to his role as group legal director and secretary of the board, takes an innovative approach to dispute resolution, notably getting involved in alternative resolution mechanisms. The team has a high degree of cooperation between compliance and legal aspects, with this paying dividends in terms of risk mitigation. The team has supported a number of strategically important company projects. Major new sites in Africa and Australia have been opened, while on the financial side the company placed two bond issues for an amount of €1.1bn in January 2019. In the M&A sector, the team has also been extremely active in supporting what has been an extremely expansive stance on the part of Accor. Late 2018 saw the acquisition of 50% of the SBE Entertainment Group for a total investment of US$319m, which later led to a new joint venture between the two companies – luxury lifestyle brand The House of Originals. It also bought out Polish Hotel operating firm Orbis in 2018 and acquired an 85% stake of 21c Museum Hotels, an award-winning hospitality management company. The latter move will allow Accor to introduce its collection of boutique hotels, MGallery, into the North American market.