STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Accor up; Natixis raises to "buy"

Shares in French hotel group Accor (ACCP.PA) rise 3 percent, topping the CAC 40's .FCHI leaderboard, after Natixis upgrades its rating on the stock to "buy" from "add".

The broker says a potential break-up of Accor into separately-listed hotel and services operations makes sense and could help spread the company's 3.2 billion-euro debt pile.

Natixis analysts say Accor's hotels unit could optimise its business model by selling assets and pursuing development plans without buying more real estate, "while the services unit should benefit from a split by finding the means to achieve growth plans."

Accor's stock is up 4.6 percent since the start of the year, underperforming a 10.3 percent rise for the DJ STOXX travel and leisure index .SXTP.

Reuters Messaging rm://lionel.laurent.reuters.com@reuters.net