Interstate Hotels & Resorts today announced an agreement to be acquired by a joint venture consisting of a subsidiary of real estate investment company Thayer Lodging Group and Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels, China's largest hotel group.
The deal, valued at about $307 million, gives the joint venture, Hotel Acquisition Co., control of the 232 properties, mostly within the United States, managed by Interstate, including 50 partially owned and six wholly owned properties. Pending stockholder approval and other closing conditions, Hotel Acquisition will complete the deal in the first quarter of next year.
"This is a very compelling offer at a significant premium," Interstate chairman and CEO Thomas Hewitt said in a statement. "The hotel industry remains in deep recession, and we believe this transaction offers the highest and best value to our shareholders."
Interstate was the 13th largest hotel company in terms of number of hotels and the 26th largest in terms of revenue in
Business Travel News'2009 Business Travel Survey. Most of its properties are under Marriott International's and Hilton Worldwide's brands, and it also has properties under InterContinental Hotels Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Wyndham Hotel Group brands.
Thayer Lodging Group labels itself an investor that acquires and repositions hotels, working in concert with major lodging brands. It retained only a small group of 15 properties after selling $1.7 billion in hotels and resorts, 85 percent of its real estate portfolio, in 2006 and 2007.
Shanghai Jin Jiang maintains a portfolio of 493 hotels, or 82,700 rooms, both operating and under development, including several under its budget Jin Jiang brands. Its hotels are located in 124 cities and towns in China.