Polish government sells accor a stake in orbis hotel chain

French-owned group Accor has bought a 20% stake in the 55-strong Polish hotel chain Orbis.

The three- and four-star properties, in 25 towns and cities around Poland, will be renovated and renamed under the Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Etap banners.

They include the 330-bedroom Victoria hotel, the 230-bedroom Europejski and the 730-bedroom Forum, all in Warsaw, and the 300-bedroom Continental and 275-bedroom Forum, both in Kraków.

Sales at Orbis's hotels are about a190m (£117m) a year.

Accor will add the properties to the five it already has in Poland and 10 more that are being built.

Accor led a consortium that included investment and development companies. Together they bought the 37.5% of the group's shares put up for sale by the Polish government.

The news came as Accor unveiled a 16.2% increase in overall sales to a3.3b (£2b) in the six months to the end of June.

Its hotels division recorded sales up by 31.6%, while the restaurants and catering division saw sales rise by 5.6%.