Polish Orbis and its Hungarian unit Accor-Pannonia Hotels reportedly signed a preliminary contract for the purchase of two hotels in Budapest for €27.5 million, Hungarian news agency MTI reported today, citing Polish news agency PAP.

The two hotels are already being run by the group under a lease agreement, PAP reported citing an Orbis press release.

The two Budapest hotels, “Ibis Budapest Heroes Square” with 139 rooms and “Mercure Budapest City Center” with 227 rooms, are part of the 46 hotels in the region which the French Accor agreed to sell to the Polish company Orbis, which itself belongs to the Accor group, in January of this year, MTI said.

The contract is expected to be signed by March 31, if all the conditions outlined in the preliminary agreement are met, Orbis reportedly said. “The deal is planned to optimize hotel operations conducted by Orbis and eliminate costs resulting from hotel lease deals,” Orbis added.

Orbis is the largest hotel group in Poland and Eastern Europe, comprising more than 100 hotels, and is the sole licensor of all AccorHotels brands in 16 countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. It offers a total of almost 19,000 rooms, the company’s website says.

Including the two hotels, Accor-Pannonia Hotels operates some 18 hotels in Hungary, MTI said.

Source: http://bbj.hu/business/polish-orbis-to-buy-two-hotels-in-budapest_107813