Blackstone Said to Plan Sale of Deutsche Interhotel to Creditors
Blackstone Group LP (BX)?plans to sell its Deutsche Interhotel Holding GmbH chain to creditors in a deal valued at about 600 million euros ($800 million), a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM/A), Starwood Capital Group LLC and?iStar Financial Inc., which hold debt used to finance Blackstone?s 2007 purchase of the assets, plan to acquire the 10 German hotels in a debt-for-equity swap, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deal is private. Blackstone, based in?New York, stopped making payments on the debt after the hotels lost value, the person said.
Ged Brumby, a spokesman for Brookfield, and Starwood spokesman?Tom Johnson?declined to comment. Spokesmen for Blackstone and iStar didn?t immediately respond to requests for comment.The plan was reported by?CoStar Group Inc. (CSGP)?yesterday.
Blackstone bought Deutsche Interhotel for about 750 million euros, one of several European hotel investments the firm made around the time. Interhotel owns the Park Inn on Berlin?s Alexanderplatz.
Blackstone, the world?s largest buyout firm, is planning to take Hilton Worldwide Inc. public in early 2014, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Aug. 8. Blackstone is working on an initial public offering for its La Quinta hotel chain, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Aug. 6.