Management-led group plans $3.7-billion buy-out of Four Seasons Hotel
07 Nov 2006
Mumbai: A group led by Four Seasons controlling shareholder Isadore Sharp and Triples Holdings Limited, Kingdom Hotels International, a company owned by a trust created by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, and Bill Gates' Cascade Investment LLC has made a buy-out offer for luxury hotelier Four Seasons Hotels Inc.
The management-led buy-out offer is valued at $3.7 billion.
The group has offered to acquire the outstanding limited voting shares of Four Seasons for $82 per share in cash, which represents a 28.4-per cent premium to the company's ruling share price.
If the deal goes through, Triples, which is Sharp's family holding company, would own about 10 per cent of the firm, with the balance of the shares split equally between Kingdom and Cascade, Four Seasons said.
Once completed, the transaction would entitle Sharp to realise proceeds of about $288 million related to a long-term incentive agreement. The board of Four Seasons has established a special committee of independent directors to consider the offer.
