Blackstone Said to Purchase Mint Hotels Chain for $949 Million, Conversions to Hilton Brands Coming
From Bloomberg BusinessWeek:
Blackstone Group LP, the world's largest buyout company, will pay about 600 million pounds ($947 million) for the Mint Hotels brand, three people familiar with the transaction said. Blackstone agreed to buy City Inn Ltd., the owner and operator of the eight-hotel chain, from the group's founders and Lloyds's property investment unit Uberior Ventures, Mint Hotels said in a statement today.

City Inn owns seven Mint hotels in the U.K. and opened its eighth in Amsterdam in May, racking up net debt that totaled 417 million pounds at the end of March, it said in a filing. The company, which had a 24.5 million-pound loss for the 12 months through March, said it breached the terms of its debt with Lloyds in July 2010. Blackstone's Hilton International chain will reposition the Mint hotels within its Double Tree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn brands. Click here for the full story.