AccorHotels said it signed a binding deal to sell its 85.8% stake in Poland's Orbis SA to AccorInvest Group SA for total proceeds of 4.55 billion zlotys.

AccorInvest will buy the shares for 115 zlotys per share in a public tender offer expected to be filed Dec. 17, with the deal expected to close by the end of first quarter of 2020. Orbis owns and operates 73 hotels and 14,000 rooms in Eastern Europe. The transaction will expand the buyer's portfolio to more than 900 hotels and 135,000 rooms.

Accor agreed to not entertain any competing offers until the settlement date or termination of the AccorInvest agreement.

Accor also reached a deal to restructure the lease portfolio of its Mövenpick hotels through a sale and management back deal with German private fund HR Group. The transaction is expected to result in a reduction of €429 million in Accor's consolidated debt.

The agreement involves 16 hotels in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, including three hotels in the pipeline, which will be managed by Accor under a 20-year contract. The deal is subject to customary conditions, including merger clearance.

The transactions for Orbis and Mövenpick complete Accor's asset-light strategy, enabling it to focus in the organic growth of its portfolio, Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin said.

Accor said it will return €1.0 billion to its shareholders over the next 24 months. The amount will include about €300 million to complete the 2018 share buyback plan. Terms of the distribution will be included in the company's results presentation Feb. 20, 2020.

As of Dec. 16, US$1 was equivalent to 3.82 Polish zlotys.