The Ciga Group consists of 25 hotels including such properties as the Gritti Palace and Danieli in Venice, the St. Regis Grand and Westin Excelsior in Rome, the Grand and Excelsior in Florence, the Principe di Savoia in Milan, the Westin Palace in Madrid, the Imperia in Vienna, and four hotels in Sardinia's Costa Smeralda including the Cala di Volpe and Pitrizza assets. Included in the Sardinia assets are more than 6,000 acres of land including several miles of beachfront property. This land is currently in various stages of the entitlement process that has been proceeding for several years, according to company officials.

The White Plains-based hotel and leisure firm with more than 725 properties worldwide, states that its third quarter diluted earnings per share increased 32% to $0.50 as compared to $0.38 last year. The company also noted that total revenues in the third quarter jumped 16% to $1.11 billion and operating income increased 26% to $274 million.

As of September 30, 2000, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide had total debt of approximately $5.5 billion and cash of approximately $242 million. As of September 30, 2000, the company had availability under its revolving credit facility in excess of $1.0 billion. During the third quarter of 2000, Starwood invested approximately $134 million in capital improvements at owned hotel assets and for new construction of timeshare inventory.