Investment company Eurazeo entered into an initial one-week period of exclusive negotiations with Carlyle on 31 July for the divestiture of its B&B Hotels chain.

With the fulfilment by Carlyle of certain financing conditions, negotiations are continuing under a renewed period of exclusivity.

The transaction is expected to be finalised by 12 October 2010, after consultation with employee representatives and subject to customary conditions including approval by competition authorities.

The transaction would occur on the basis of an estimated enterprise value at closing of EUR485m.

B&B Hotels is a hotel chain positioned at the high end of budget hotels. As of the end of June 2010, B&B Hotels operated 221 hotels in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Portugal, with a total of 16,528 rooms.

B&B Hotels chief executive Georges Sampeur says: "We are particularly proud of the performance achieved since July 2005 with Eurazeo’s support. The relevance of our group’s positioning is reflected in our increasing number of appreciative customers."

Luis Marini-Portugal, a member of the Eurazeo executive board and chairman of the B&B Hotels supervisory board, adds: "During the past five years, Georges Sampeur, his teams and the hotel managers have fully demonstrated the quality of B&B’s positioning. With a renewed brand image, a renovated hotel network and strong growth in France and abroad, as well as the strengthening of its teams, B&B Hotels has become one of Europe’s most dynamic economy hotel chains."