Cendant bought the Greenwich, CT-based firm for roughly $100 million in cash and assumed approximately $60 million of Equivest corporate debt. Equivest will be integrated into Cendant's Fairfield Resorts unit. The acquisition is expected to add $.01 to Cendant's 2002 EPS, which is forecast at $1.29.

Aside from ownership interests at 29 resort facilities, located primarily on the Eastern Seaboard and in the US Virgin Islands, Equivest also operates a finance company specializing in consumer timeshare loans. More than 85,000 Equivest timeshare interests have been sold and an additional 20,000 borrowers have arranged financing through Equivest for ownership in unaffiliated resorts.

Cendant's 60,000 employees provide real estate and travel services to businesses and consumers in more than 100 countries. Its subsidiary, Fairfield, is considered the world's largest independent timeshare company, with more than 340,000 vacation-owning households and upwards of $500 million in annual timeshare sales.