Investors Bet On CityCenter As Casino Complex Sells $1.5B Bonds

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--CityCenter Holdings, owner of the joint-venture Las Vegas casino complex between MGM Resorts International (MGM) and a subsidiary of Dubai World, sold $1.5 billion of senior secured bonds on Thursday, including $600 million of risky debt that can pay interest in the form of more debt.
Underwriters on Thursday afternoon had altered the structure of the deal, increasing a five-year first-lien bond offering to $900 million from $500 million and decreasing a first-lien bank term loan by an equivalent amount to $500 million, according to a person familiar with the deal, due to heavy investor demand for the first-lien bonds.
The $900 million tranche of first-lien notes due Jan. 15, 2016 sold at par to yield 7.625%, compared to earlier price guidance of 7.75%
A $600 million tranche of second-lien pay-in-kind notes due Jan. 15, 2017 sold at par with a coupon of 10.75% when interest is paid in cash and 11.5% when paid in kind with more debt. The first three semiannual interest payments will be paid in kind, and thereafter the company will have the option to pay in cash, in kind or half in cash and half in kind, according to the person familiar with the deal.
Earlier price guidance for the $600 million of six-year second-lien notes was in the area of 10.75% to 11% if paid in cash, stepping up by 75 basis points if paid in kind with additional debt.

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Enterprise Inns plc does sale and leaseback of 29 central London pubs

CB Richard Ellis acting for Enterprise Inns is pleased to announce the sale and leaseback of 29 central London pubs to Max Property Group plc for a cash consideration of £42.56m. The properties are let on a 35 year lease with an initial rent of £2.975m per annum.

David Batchelor, Senior Director at CB Richard Ellis and Head of Leisure and Alternative Investments commented: “The demand from institutional investors for well located real estate is well known. This transaction shows that good pubs are an excellent and intelligent alternative to more traditional asset classes and that there is a keen interest among mainstream investors. We anticipate that 2011 will see significant portfolio volume in both the Leisure and Healthcare markets where we specialise.”

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Starbucks Brews Plan to Enter India

India remains one of the big untapped markets for the Seattle-based coffee and food company. Chairman Howard Schultz said in an interview from Mumbai that India could one day rival China, where the company recently announced plans to more than triple the number of outlets to about 1,500 in five years.
India is "as large an opportunity as there exists in the world, coupled with China," he said.

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GLOBAL LOYALTY PROGRAM SURVEY RESULTS INDICATES TRANSFORMATIVE TRENDS FOR 2011

(Hospitality Business News) Zurich, Switzerland - January 14, 2010 - Loylogic, the leading provider of loyalty technology solutions, today announced the results of the 2010 Frequent Traveler Survey, undertaken to better understand frequent travelers' opinions towards their current loyalty programs and reward redemption.  

  

The results of the survey indicate a shift in satisfaction of rewards currently offered by loyalty programs and demonstrates the need for a wider array of reward options to effectively engage and excite today's consumers - and especially frequent travelers. The Loylogic survey was completed between September 17 to October 15, 2010 and reflects the opinion of over 36,000 responses from members of over 140 loyalty programs worldwide.

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Lloyds set to sell Mint hotels for £550m

An information memorandum for prospective buyers is expected to be issued over the next few weeks after the joint-owners appointed investment bank JP Morgan Cazenove to handle the sale.

Mint, which was founded as City Inn in 1995 and was only rebranded in November, is one of a number of hotel companies inherited by Lloyds after its painful acquisition of HBOS.

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Starwood mulls over options to exit Louvre Hotels

PARIS - STARWOOD Capital is considering options to sell Louvre Hotels, Europe's number-two budget hotel group, French daily Les Echos reported on Friday.
The US investment firm is considering either a stock market listing of Louvre Hotels or its sale, the paper said.
Starwood Capital declined to comment.
'Starwood Capital has launched the process to be ready at end-2011 or early 2012. Preparing for a possible bourse listing takes time but the decision will depend on market conditions. Starwood Capital is by nature opportunistic,' a source close to the matter told Les Echos.
Starwood Capital took on Louvre Hotels as part of its acquisition of Taittinger's hotel and champagne empire in 2005

RBS sells four Hilton hotels

Cowell Group Investors, the company run by Nicholas Cowell, brother of X Factor creator Simon Cowell, has bought four Hilton hotels from the Royal Bank of Scotland for over £100m on behalf of Marcus Cooper.
The hotels are in Manchester, Statford-upon-Avon, Brighton, and Berkshire, and are all being sold as part of RBS’s six-strong Hilton portfolio.

MCPG, which bought the hotels, is a 100% owned subsidiary of the St John’s Wood-based Marcus Cooper Group, which was founded in 1991. It was an all-equity purchase.

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Sunstone Seeks Rebound With $1 Billion of Hotels After Forfeiting Property

Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc., the real estate investment trust that’s forfeited 10 properties in the past two years, wants to buy $1 billion of assets in 2011 to expand its portfolio of upscale business hotels.

The company is looking to buy high-end hotels of 400 rooms or larger in major cities on the U.S. East and West coasts, said Kenneth Cruse, Sunstone’s president and chief financial officer. Among the purchases is the 62 percent of Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square it doesn’t already own for about $37.5 million. Sunstone plans to complete the New York acquisition this month.

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Brokaw: "I Would Be Nervous Going Into A Bar" In Arizona

"Gun control is too simple a phrase to define all the complications and nuances of it, frankly. In Arizona they have a wide open system. I would be nervous about going into a bar or restaurant in Arizona on a Saturday night where people can carry concealed without permits," Tom Brokaw said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

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AAA announces Five Diamond hotels for 2011

Whether we get to stay in AAA-rated Five Diamond hotels fairly regularly - or dream about staying in one of them, many of us love to know which hotels AAA considers the "best of the best."
AAA today will announce its Five Diamond Award winners for 2011, and Hotel Check-In has an exclusive rundown for you.
AAA has awarded Five Diamond status to 179 hotels and restaurants in the USA, Canada, Caribbean and Mexico - which is just 0.3% of the 59,000 that its inspectors personally visit and rate each year.

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