Choice Hotels commences exchange offer for Wyndham shares, prepares for board battle (updated)

Choice Hotels International

12/12/2023 11:43

(Adds details in first paragraph, background throughout)
       Dec 12 (Reuters) - Budget hotel operator Choice Hotels
International  CHH.N  on Tuesday commenced an exchange offer for
the shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts  WH.N  and said it was
preparing to nominate candidates to the board of the
takeover-target.
    Wyndham was not immediately available for a comment on
Tuesday.
    Reuters had reported about Choice preparing to challenge
Wyndham's board in November.
    Choice has been attempting to break a stalemate in an about
$8 billion takeover deal that would combine two of the biggest
budget hotel operators in the United States.
    This comes at a time when domestic travel is moderating in
the face of high inflation, which might reduce consumer spending
on travel and increase demand for budget hotels such as Choice
and Wyndham.
    Choice went public with a cash-and-stock offer of $90 per
share for Wyndham in October, after the latter privately
rebuffed its takeover attempts. Choice had first approached
Wyndham with an $80-per-share offer in April.
    Wyndham rejected Choice's latest revised bid arguing that it
continues to undervalue its business. It said it was concerned
about the slower growth prospects of Choice's business and the
high amount of debt the combined company would have.
    Wyndham had also cited antitrust scrutiny from U.S.
regulators as one of the reasons for turning down Choice's offer
and indicated it is only willing to engage if all its concerns
are addressed.
    

 (Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta and Ananta Agarwal in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
 ((Aatreyee.Dasgupta@thomsonreuters.com;))