Mantra sale likely

Accor should get approval: East

MANTRA boss Bob East remains confident the sale to France’s Accor Hotels will be rubber-stamped but shareholders worry Australia will lose another local company to a foreign buyer.

Accor, which is seeking to grow its share of the highly fragmented Australian accommodation market, last month lobbed a $1.2 billion bid for hotel and resort operator Mantra

Group.

The deal requires the approval of shareholders as well as the nation’s competition watchdog – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Mantra’s board voted unanimously to accept the offer for Accor to acquire all shares, at $3.96 each.

Mr East, who yesterday addressed shareholders at Mantra’s annual meeting, said afterwards that a shareholder vote was likely during mid-April but “there was no date locked in”.

“The ACCC early in the new year will advise their findings and it’s broadly expected they will enable that deal to proceed,” he said.

“The final event is the shareholders’ vote on the approval or otherwise of that deal.”

Mr East said he did not believe concerns the merger would reduce competition in the accommodation sector would be an issue.

AGM attendees spoken to by the Gold Coast Bulletin said there was broad support for the takeover to proceed. However, they were wary of another Australian company falling into foreign hands.

“It’s another company being taken over by an overseas firm,” a Beaudesert-based shareholder said. “I’m getting a good price for my shares, however if they don’t get taken over I won’t be unhappy.”

Mantra posted an aftertax profit of $47.2 million, up 14.2 per cent on the previous year.

It added six new properties in the year, with another three acquired in the past six months, while it also refurbished 1425 of its 16,500-plus rooms.