The 50% owner wants to buy
By Adam Steinhauer
the rest from Prudential Insurance
Bloomberg NewsBEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Hilton Hotels Corp. said it has had talks with Prudential Insurance Co. about buying the insurance company's half of their Hilton Hawaiian Village resort. An agreement, though, for Prudential's 50 percent interest isn't imminent, said Hilton Chief Financial Officer Matthew Hart.
He wouldn't give the terms discussed for the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which is the state's largest hotel with 2,545 rooms.
Hart said Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hilton may seek to buy other hotels in Hawaii, where a soft economy has hurt the hotel and tourism industries.
The problems could create good buying opportunities, he said.
"We are an avowed purchaser of properties," Hart said. "These are unstable times in Hawaii."
Besides its interest in the Hawaiian Village, Hilton also is a part owner and manager of the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island and manages the Turtle Bay Hilton Golf & Tennis Resort on Oahu.
Prudential officials who were aware of the talks couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
Last year, Hilton bought Prudential's stake in six Hilton hotels for about $430 million. The hotels were in Washington, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.
This has been a record year for acquisitions in the hotel industry.
Hilton, however, has missed out on most of the consolidation after spending 10 months pursuing an unsuccessful hostile takeover of ITT Corp.
ITT, the parent company of the Sheraton hotels, accepted a $13.7 billion offer from Starwood Lodging Trust in November.
