UK Hilton’s lodging business sold to US Hilton Hotels for £3.6bn |
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Published
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Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:05
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LONDON: After years of merger talks, the UK’s Hilton Group is finally slated to be reunited with Hilton Hotels Corp. of the US in a £3.6 billion deal announced yesterday.
Shares of Hilton Group Plc surged yesterday after a report which said the group was about to sell its UK lodging businesses to the US based Hilton Hotels Corp.
The two groups had separated with a spin off in 1964 after which HHC’s business was limited to the US while the UK’s HG could operate in the rest of the world.
The deal gives HHC the right to expand overseas besides adding 2,700 properties of the HG which include London’s Metropole and the Hilton Park Lane.
The UK group now plans to concentrate on the more profitable Ladbrokes gambling business. With recent deregulation of the gambling market, the gambling market is expected to grow by 33 percent over the next five years. HG’s Ladbrokes is on a makeover and expansion spree to cash in on the growth.
This lucrative betting chain has interested three private equity groups who have made many bids to acquire it.
Both the Hilton groups already have an alliance for global marketing, reservation systems and customer loyalty schemes.
Unless the complexity of the deal delays proceedings, it is expected to close today, the report said. The UK group’s stock has seen share prices rising 32 percent this year.
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| Stock
Quotes * |
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NASDAQ
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1398.07 |
-137.50 (
-8.95 %)
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| SYMBOL (
2007-09-26 ) |
| LAST |
CHANGE
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HANSON
(
12:41pm )
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1099.00 |
+3.00 (
0.27 %)
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AMVESCAP
(
11:35am )
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607.50 |
+2.50 (
0.41 %)
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| SYMBOL (
2008-12-01 )
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| LAST |
CHANGE
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INTEL CP
(
4:00pm ) |
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12.56 |
-1.24 (
-9.16 %)
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| SYMBOL (
2007-09-04 )
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| LAST |
CHANGE
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Hilton Group says deal with Hilton Hotels likely 