Hotel-deal hostility just piles on extra baggage

Choice Hotels International

13/12/2023 16:26

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Jennifer Saba
       NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) -
R adisson-owner Choice is taking its $7 bln offer directly to
Wyndham shareholders. The target’s stock price reflects some
doubts about chances for success. Even with the added threat of
a proxy fight, investors have good reason to want more cash and
less of the buyer’s equity.
    Full view will be published shortly.
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    CONTEXT NEWS 
    Choice Hotels International on Dec. 12 initiated an exchange
offer to acquire Wyndham Hotels & Resorts for $49.50 a share in
cash and 0.324 shares of Choice common stock for each Wyndham
share. Based on Choice’s closing price on Dec. 11, the offer
represents $86.37 per share. 
    Separately, Choice said it is actively identifying and
evaluating director candidates to nominate to Wyndham’s board. 
    Wyndham said in a statement it will evaluate the offer but
that it “looks unchanged from Choice’s previously highly
conditional offer the board reviewed and rejected.”

 (Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Sharon Lam)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  SABA/ 
jennifer.saba@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
jennifer.saba.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))