21st Apr 2006 13:08
Whitbread PLC21 April 2006 21 April 2006 Whitbread completes sale of Marriott hotel assets Whitbread PLC announces today the sale, along with Marriott International, oftheir interests in the Marriott Hotels 50/50 joint venture to Royal Bank ofScotland ("RBS"). The joint venture, which owns 46 Marriott branded hotels, wasformed last year following Whitbread's announcement to exit from the operationand ownership of its franchised four-star hotel business. The transaction, which completes today, values the joint venture at £951.4m*.Whitbread has also today agreed to sell the Leicester Marriott hotel developmentto RBS for £30m, subject to satisfaction of conditions concerning the opening ofthe hotel. Completion of this sale is expected in June 2006. Whitbread willreceive approximately £237m as its share of the proceeds from the sale of itsinterest in the joint venture. This is in addition to the £710m that it receivedlast year upon establishment of the joint venture. This transaction delivers the majority of the asset disposal programme thatWhitbread announced last year. Proceeds of the asset sales completed to date,including Britvic and The Brewery at Chiswell Street, together with theremaining assets yet to be sold, are on target to achieve £1.3 billion. Alan Parker, Chief Executive, Whitbread PLC said. "I am pleased that havingcompleted this transaction ahead of schedule we are now in a position to returnto shareholders the £400m that we previously committed. We will be givingconfirmation of the timing and method of this return at our Annual Results on25th April. This means that together with the £400m special dividend last May wewill have returned a total of £800m to shareholders. "This sale brings the excellent partnership that we have enjoyed with MarriottInternational to a close. Following our decision last year to exit the four-starhotel business we are now a more focused company, intent on deliveringimprovements in operating performance, reducing costs and driving growth in ourbest performing brands". *including the assumption by RBS of the joint venture's working capital position For more information please contact: Investor Relations:Christopher Rogers, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 20 7806 5491 Press Contacts:Anna Glover, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 1582 844 439Andrew Grant, Tulchan +44 (0) 20 7353 4200 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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