Proskauer Rose and Shearman & Sterling have taken lead advisory roles as French hotel chain Accor has sealed a deal with China's Huazhu Hotels Group to operate a number of its brands in the PRC.

As part of the deal, Shanghai-based Huazhu, also known as China Lodging Group, will become the exclusive master-franchisee for all Accor's economy and midscale hotels in mainland China, Mongolia and Taiwan, which include ibis, Novotel and Mercure, as well as for the upscale Grand Mercure.

The Nasdaq-listed group plans to open 350 to 400 new hotels under the Accor brands in the next five years – more than doubling Accor's current properties.

Accor will continue to own and develop all hotels in its luxury portfolio, which include Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery and The Sebel.

In a statement the hotelier did not reveal a deal value, but said it would buy 10% of Huazhu shares and would have a seat on the company's board as part of the agreement. Huazhu is meanwhile taking a 10% stake in Accor's Chinese luxury business.

The transaction will close upon completion of an anti-trust review and governmental approvals.

Proskauer Rose acted for Accor on the deal, fielding a nine-lawyer team led by partners Jeff Horwitz, head of the lodging and gaming group and private equity real estate practice, and Yuval Tal, head of the firm's Hong Kong and Beijing offices. Chinese outfit Jun He provided PRC counsel.

The US firm has previously represented the group on several large transactions, including the purchase and later sale of the Red Roof Inns chain, the sale of the Motel 6 chain to Blackstone for $1.9bn, and almost $1bn-worth of sale-and-management-back agreements for Sofitel hotels.

Advising Huazhu was Shearman & Sterling, with the firm's Beijing office managing partner and head of China M&A group Lee Edwards heading up.

Edwards has experience working on a number of major M&A deals in China, including advising Chinese internet giant SINA on the sale of an 18% stake of its microblogging site Weibo to Alibaba Group for $586m.

Accor currently has 144 hotels in China across eight brands, having been operating in China for 30 years.

Huazhu, founded in 2005, is also understood to be a major hotel group, with seven brands ranging from upscale to budget operating in more than 280 Chinese cities, with 1,849 hotels.