(Yicai Global) Dec. 6 -- French hospitality giant AccorHotels has agreed to sell half of its stake in China's Huazhu Hotels Group for USD451 million to cash in on the value their four-year-old alliance has created. Huazhu's shares soared.

Accor will offload about 5 percent of Huazhu to an undisclosed buyer, it said in a statement posted on its website yesterday. Accor will still own about 5 percent of the Shanghai-based group after the deal is done and its Chief Executive Sebastien Bazin will remain on Huazhu's board. No reason was given for the sale.

Huazhu and its founder and Chairman Ji Qi have given their whole-hearted support to the transaction, Accor said, adding that the deal allows it "to crystallize the value created from the implementation of the partnership between both groups in January 2016."

Shares of Huazhu [NASDAQ:HTHT] surged 4.8 percent in New York to close at  USD34.50 yesterday following the announcement. The company's share price has nearly quadrupled since the pair sealed a strategic cooperation deal.

The two have jointly opened 200 budget and mid-priced hotels in China, including Ibis, Novotel and Mercure. They plan to open a further 250 in the next three years.