MeriStar Hospitality Corp. / MHX

About MeriStar Hospitality Corp.

6430 Rockledge Dr., Suite 200, Bethesda, Md. 20817
www.meristar.com | 301-581-5900 | Founded: 1988

Industry: Hospitality/Travel | Category: Public Companies

MeriStar announced in February of this year that it will sell itself to the Blackstone Group's hotel investment unit for $2.6 billion. The deal, assuming it is approved by shareholders and regulators, is expected to close by the end of June.
With the deal, MeriStar is cashing in on a strongly favorable market for hotel sales; large private equity firms such as Blackstone have been aggressively pursuing such properties.
Before announcing the planned acquisition, MeriStar had a busy year of selling off properties. It has long had plans to do so to reduce its debt, have more money available for refurbishing remaining properties and concentrate on large urban hotels. To that end, it sold nine hotels in 2005 for $104 million, and had sold 16 more in the opening months of 2005, including 10 to the Blackstone Group.
The company recorded a loss of $241.6 million for 2005 because some of those hotels were sold for less than the value of the properties as recorded on MeriStar's books. Late last year, MeriStar moved its corporate headquarters to Bethesda from Arlington.

Chairman and CEO: Paul W. Whetsell

2005 Financial Data

Revenues: $724,622,000 | Net Income: $-241,618,000
Asssets: $2,176,031,000 | Earnings Per Share: $-2.76
Total employees: 51 | Local employees: 50