Cendant to acquire Hawaii timeshares
NEW YORK >> Hotel franchise operator Cendant Corp. said today it plans to buy Trendwest Resorts Inc., a time-share resort developer, for about $894 million in stock.Cendant is the world's largest lodging franchisor. Its brands include Super 8, Days Inn, Ramada and Howard Johnson, among others.
Trendwest, through exclusive relationships with WorldMark, the Club and WorldMark South Pacific Club, has 48 properties located primarily in the western United States, British Columbia, Mexico, Hawaii and the South Pacific. It has about 150,000 time-share owners, who typically buy ownership rights to a property for a specified period each year. Cendant's existing time-share operations, Fair- field Resorts and Equivest, are mainly in the eastern United States.
New York-based Cendant agreed to swap shares of its stock for all of the outstanding common stock of Redmond, Wash.-based Trendwest.
Cendant has also agreed to buy about 90 percent of the outstanding shares of Trendwest from JELD-WEN and certain stockholders. JELD-WEN owns approximately 81 percent of Trendwest.
Cendant will issue 48.3 million to 55.4 million shares, depending on its share price, expected to be between $16.15 and $18.50. Cendant will also assume approximately $74 million of Trendwest debt.
The merger would save about $15 million a year, the companies said. As a result, Cendant boosted its earnings forecast by 1 cent a share for 2002, while Trendwest increased its earnings forecast by 2 cents a share for 2003.
Northwest reduces Hawaii gate time
Northwest Airlines is cutting the check-in time for flights between Hawaii and the mainland. Starting Saturday, travelers must be checked in at the airline's gate and ready to board at least 30 minutes before flight time, rather than the 60 minutes now required. Within the mainland, Northwest is lengthening the deadline, requiring passengers to be checked in 15 minutes before flight time, an increase from 10 minutes. The airline said that will help it improve its on-time performance. International flights will still require check-in 60 minutes ahead.The deadlines are for the gates within airport terminals. Travelers still must arrive at airports well in advance of flights to allow time for security checks.
Wal-Mart, Federated fall after sales miss forecasts
Bentonville, Ark. >> Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Federated Department Stores Inc. shares fell after the U.S. retailers said same-store sales last week were less than expected.Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, closed down $1.74, or 2.8 percent, to $59.56 today, its biggest decline since September. Federated, which owns Macy's, declined $1.54, or 3.8 percent, to $39.31.
The retailers blamed the sales shortfall on unseasonably cool weather, which analysts said hurt demand for spring clothing. Merrill Lynch & Co. and other analysts cut their ratings on retail stocks, saying that the companies' profit growth this year will lag other industries as the U.S. economy rebounds from a recession.
In other news ...
NEW YORK >> Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the biggest company in the world on the annual Fortune 500 list with nearly $220 billion in revenues. Wal-Mart, No. 2 on the list a year ago, overtook oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. in the rankings compiled on the basis of companies' annual revenue figures. The retailer's ascendancy was expected after both companies issued their 2001 results earlier this year.