French hotel giant Accor is poised to raise more than €1b (£698m) through the sale and leaseback of a number of its European hotels.
The move follows Whitbread's decision last month to sell and manage-back half of its Marriott portfolio and InterContinental's decision to put 75 of its 81 UK properties on the market in September.
The Accor hotels are mostly located on the Continent, but properties already on offer in the UK include the Novotel Edinburgh Centre, Ibis Leeds Centre, and two hotels in London's Docklands - the Ibis London ExCel and the Novotel London ExCel.
Earlier this year Accor signed a sale-and-leaseback deal for three UK and four Spanish hotels with Herax, the property investment fund set up by Heron Corporation and AXA Sun Life.
The company refused to comment on its latest disposal programme, but did confirm that it was going ahead.
Accor, which owns or manages almost 4,000 properties throughout the world, has been selling its real estate to release capital since 1994. One of its most notable deals was the sale and leaseback of 288 Motel 6 properties for $1.1b (£592m) in 1998.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 11 November 2004