China's HNA Group to Buy 25% Stake of Hilton
24 Octobre 2016 - 4:00PM
Dow Jones News
Chinese conglomerate HNA Group said Monday it plans to buy a
roughly 25% stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. from Blackstone
Group L.P. for $6.5 billion, the latest move into American
real-estate assets by a Chinese firm.
Under the terms of the deal, which will reduce Blackstone's
interest in Hilton to approximately 21%, HNA will pay $26.25 a
share in cash for the stake, a 15% premium to Hilton's closing
price of $22.91 on Friday.
Hilton shares rose 4.8% to $24 in premarket trading.
The move comes as Hilton is expected to later this year split
into three distinct entities, the result of a plan to spin off a
chunk of its hotels into a real-estate investment trust and to
separate its timeshare business. The HNA-Blackstone transaction is
expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, and HNA will own
approximately 25% of all three companies.
The agreement allows HNA to appoint two directors, one HNA
member and one independent member, to Hilton's Board of Directors,
bringing the total to 10 members.
Chinese firms—especially insurers—have shown greater appetite
for U.S. real-estate assets lately. Private investment firm
Starwood Capital Group said last week it sold a stake in a roughly
$2 billion portfolio of U.S. hotels to a group led by China's
largest insurance company, China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Last year,
Starwood reached a deal to sell the Baccarat Hotel in Manhattan to
China's Sunshine Insurance Group. And Anbang Insurance Group Co.
paid nearly $2 billion for the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan
before it engaged in a high-profile bidding war with Marriott
International Inc. for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Inc., though Anbang ultimately walked away.
Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 24, 2016 09:45 ET (13:45 GMT)
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