Accor said it has purchased the South American hotel portfolio of Grupo Posadas for $275 million. The transaction includes 15 hotels, including four owned hotels, four variable leased hotels and seven hotels under management contract. These hotels are located in such key cities as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Santiago in Chile. Eleven of the 15 hotels are located in Brazil.

Accor said the acquisition of the Grupo Posadas hotel portfolio will reinforce its brands in the region, including Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel and Mercure. The transaction also includes a secured pipeline of 14 hotels under management contract and the purchase of two brands operated by Grupo Posadas in South America: Caesar Park and Caesar Business. Overall the transaction included 2,600 rooms (15 hotels) and a secured pipeline of 2,000 rooms (14 hotels).

Accor said the deal was fully in line with its development strategy launched last September, which includes Accor’s ability to reinforce its leadership in emerging markets through selective acquisitions. It follows Accor’s acquisition of Mirvac in Australia and New Zealand, which closed on May 22. With this transaction, the Accor’s network in Brazil will reach 164 hotels and 26,200 rooms. Completion of the deal should occur by the end of 2012.

“This is a strategic milestone for [Accor], as it enables us to optimize our network, our distribution channels and our support services platforms,” said Roland Bonadona, Accor’s chief operating officer for Latin America. “We are very ahead of schedule on our expansion plan. Within the next three years, the Accor and Posadas pipelines combined will allow us to operate more than 300 hotels.”