HILTON SHARES RISE 26% FOLLOWING SALE
Post Wires
July 6, 2007 -- Shares of Hilton Hotels Corp. soared 26 percent yesterday, two days after the company agreed to be bought by The Blackstone Group for $20.1 billion in cash.
The deal was valued at $26 billion including debt.
Shares of other lodging companies also rose as analysts speculated about which ones might become the next buyout targets.
Hilton's shares were the most heavily traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares rose $9.34 to $45.39.
The proposed acquisition deal represents a 32 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price. It would instantly make Blackstone the world's largest hotel owner.
Celebrity socialite Paris Hilton and other descendants of her great grandfather Conrad Hilton - who started the hotel group in 1919 when he bought a small hotel in Cisco, Texas - won't likely see a windfall.
That's because the family has little stake left in the company and what's remaining is expected to ultimately go to charity.
"Very few Hiltons will benefit very much from this sale," said Jerry Oppenheimer, who profiled the Hilton family in his 2006 book "House of Hilton."
Hilton Co-Chairman Barron Hilton, Conrad's son and Paris' grandfather, is the only member of the Hilton clan that has a sizable role at the company. He's expected to give the roughly $1 billion that he stands to get from the sale of his 5.3 percent stake to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
"If it wasn't for Paris, no one would be talking about the Hilton name. It would just be a financial story," said Oppenheimer.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07062007/business/hilton_shares_rise_26__following_sale_business_ .htm
