Marriott To Buy 32 Hotels From CTF Holdings for $1B

WASHINGTON, DC-Marriott International Inc. has entered into an agreement with CTF Holdings Ltd. to acquire 32 hotels and two designated joint venture interests from the Hong Kong-headquartered hotel company for a total of nearly $1.5 billion. The multi-faceted deal involves Marriott subsequently selling some of the properties to Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. and Walton Street Capital LLC in separate deals. The arrangement will bring to a close a lawsuit filed in 2002 in which CTF accused Marriott of overcharging for goods and services provided through the Rockville, MD-based online procurement services firm Avendra LLC.

In addition to the acquisition of the 32 hotels–29 of which operate under the Marriott-owned brands of Renaissance Hotels & Resorts and Courtyard by Marriott–the arrangement involves a purchase and sale feature that allows for Marriott’s disposition of five of the properties and a single joint venture to San Clemente, CA-based Sunstone in return for $419 million. It also allows for the sale of eight hotels for $578 million to Chicago’s Walton.