Wyndham Acquires La Quinta
Meg Butler January 20, 2018
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation announced on Thursday morning that they will acquire La Quinta Holdings, Inc. for $1.95 billion, with an expected acquisition close date before the end of the second quarter 2018. Even if the deal doesn’t go through, Wyndham will still pay $37 million in termination fees.
From the press release:
“Under the terms of the agreement, stockholders of La Quinta will receive $8.40 per share in cash (approximately $1.0 billion in aggregate), and Wyndham Worldwide will repay approximately $715 million of La Quinta debt net of cash and set aside a reserve of $240 million for estimated taxes expected to be incurred in connection with the taxable spin-off of La Quinta’s owned real estate assets into CorePoint Lodging Inc.”
After Marriott’s 2016 acquisition of Starwood Hotels, they became the biggest hotel chain, but once this deal is complete, Wyndham will hold the new title for the largest hotel chain with over 9,000 properties across 21 different brands.
This acquisition plan, as of now, is a good thing for La Quinta members because they will be able to take advantage of benefits at many more hotels worldwide. Full details on what will happen with the two loyalty programs and when still remains to be seen. It’s likely that there will be some changes that aren’t favorable to at least one party!
How do you think this acquisition is going to unfold?
[Image: La Quinta]
