The Firm is representing Blackstone in connection with its sale of an approximate 25% equity interest in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. to HNA Group. HNA will establish a long-term strategic investment in Hilton and Hilton’s planned spin-offs of Park Hotels & Resorts (“Park”) and Hilton Grand Vacations (“HGV”). The transaction is valued at approximately $6.5 billion, reducing Blackstone’s interest in Hilton to approximately 21%. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. Following Hilton’s previously announced spin-offs of Park and HGV, which are expected to occur on or about the end of the year, HNA will own approximately 25% of all three companies. As part of the transaction, HNA has entered into a stockholders agreement with Hilton, and into similar agreements with Park and HGV.
In 2007, the Firm represented Blackstone in its $26 billion acquisition of Hilton, the largest acquisition ever of a hotel company.
Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company, comprising more than 4,700 managed, franchised, owned and leased hotels and timeshare properties with over 775,000 rooms in 104 countries and territories. The company's portfolio of 13 world-class global brands includes Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Canopy by Hilton, Curio - A Collection by Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, Tru by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Grand Vacations.
HNA Group is a global Fortune 500 company focused on tourism, logistics and financial services. Since its founding in 1993, HNA Group has evolved from a regional airline based on Hainan Island into a global company with over $90 billion of assets, $30 billion in annual revenues and an international workforce of nearly 200,000 employees, primarily across North America, Europe and Asia. HNA’s tourism business is a fast-growing, vertically integrated global player with market-leading positions in aviation, hotels and travel services. HNA operates and invests in nearly 2,000 hotels with over 300,000 rooms across major markets, and has 1,250 aircraft carrying over 90 million passengers to 260 cities worldwide.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Brian Stadler, Chris May, Leah Baucom and Izzy Lubarsky (M&A); John Hart, Drew Purcell and George Davis (Tax); Jon Lindabury and Jen Levitt (Credit); and Peter Thomas, Ellen Frye and David Shogren (Antitrust).