AccorHotels has signed an agreement with a consortium of 15 banks for a new €1.2bn (£1.06bn) Revolving Credit Facility, which margin will be notably dependent on the Group’s performance in terms of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG).
The new facility has a five-year tenor with two one-year extension options to be exercised in 2019 and 2020. It replaces the undrawn €1.8bn (£1.59bn) facility signed in June 2014, that had been reduced to €1.2bn following the completion of the AccorInvest disposal.
This facility will reinforce AccorHotels liquidity and increase the average maturity of its financial resources.
AccorHotels’ current sustainability performance has been assessed by Sustainalytics, one of the leading providers of ESG research and ratings to investors globally. The resulting score will be used as the benchmark against which performance improvements will be assessed.
This facility falls within the scope of AccorHotels’ Planet 21 – Acting here! program launched in 2016 which aims to see achieve the best possible ethical, social and environmental performance based on six strategic priorities: work with its employees, involve its customers, offer guests healthy and sustainable food, innovate with its partners, favor carbon neutral buildings and work with local communities.
Jean-Jacques Morin, Chief Financial Officer of AccorHotels, said, “I am pleased that we AccorHotels are the first global Hospitality leader to link the interest rate structure of our new RCF to our sustainability performance. Our Group is fully committed to ESG issues, and we take pride in being a member of most key sustainability indices.”
The RCF includes the following 15 banks: BNP Paribas as Coordinator, documentation and sustainability Agent, Société Générale as Coordinator and facility Agent, MUFG and Unicredit as coordinators as well as Banco Santander, Bank of America Merill Lynch, Barclays, Citibank, Crédit Agricole CIB, Commerzbank, CM-CIC, HSBC, ING, Natixis and NatWest as Mandated Lead Arrangers.