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Now that Rodamco North America NV has unloaded trophy retail properties in a three-part deal, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has revived a plan to sell piecemeal its CIGA luxury European hotel chain.
Something else spurred White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood to resuscitate the auction: more than $2 billion of debt maturing by the end of 2003.
This week, bankers will finally send out the books to prospective buyers interested in the 25-luxury hotel portfolio. The properties are located principally in Italy, Spain and Austria, including the St. Regis Grand in Rome and the Principe de Savoia in Milan.
Just like the Rodamco upscale retail mall portfolio, individual assets of this caliber always tend to fetch a higher price than selling the portfolio as one.
"Starwood's willingness to break up the portfolio has certainly enhanced its marketability," said Glenn Carlin, one of Starwood's advisers and managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Though CIBC World Markets in a research note Nov. 30...