The ACCC will put the $1.2 billion sale of Mantra Group to Accor Hotels to a public review

MANTRA Group shareholders have heard what will happen next in the company’s $1.2 billion sale to Accor Hotels.

Clare Rigby, 21, and Luke Roberts 20, on the pool deck at Soul Mantra Surfers Paradise. Pic Tim Marsden

THE sale of Gold Coast hotelier Mantra Group to Accor Hotels will undergo a public review by the nation’s competition watchdog, Mantra shareholders learned today.

Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting in Brisbane, chairman Peter Bush said the agreement approved by the Mantra board last month had been put to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Results of their public review will inform its decision on the $1.2 billion deal.

Accor Hotels’ Novotel Lombok at Mandalika.

The board unanimously voted to accept Accor’s offer to acquire all shares, at $3.96 each, of the group which runs Peppers, Mantra and Breakfree resorts across Australia and South-East Asia.

Shareholders are still yet to vote on the sale, with a meeting likely in March.

At the AGM they heard the group had settled this morning on its $52.5 million purchase of the Art Series Hotel Group.

The Johnson in Brisbane, among seven properties sold to Mantra by the Art Series Hotel Group.

The group posted an after-tax profit of $47.2 million, up 14.2 per cent on the previous year, after increasing revenue by 13.7 per cent to $689 million.

It added six new properties in FY17, with another three acquired in the past six months, while it also refurbished 1425 of its 16,500-plus rooms.

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Among the new projects set to join the portfolio in FY18 is the 100-room Mantra Southport Sharks, due to open in the first half of next year.

Artist's impressions of the Mantra Hotel planned for construction by the Southport Sharks Club. PHOTO: Supplied

CEO Bob East said the Art Series acquisition added seven “unique and iconic hotels in key CBD locations”.

Mr East said key drivers of the group’s results had been the increase in properties; refurbishments; a new brand campaign and a consolidation of the group’s brands onto a single website.

Mantra chairman Peter Bush and CEO Bob East. Photo: Ric Frearson

“Currently it is business as usual at Mantra Group and management and team members remain focused on driving its core business to deliver earnings and key strategies aimed at delivering ongoings security holder value,” he said in his AGM address.

Come back tomorrow to see what shareholders thought of the AGM