Press Release: Starwood Hotels & Resorts
January 15, 2002
WHITE PLAINS, NY -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) announced yesterday that it has initiated
the formal sale of its CIGA portfolio of 25 luxury hotels, land, golf courses and marinas.
The Company expects to begin reviewing preliminary indications of interest in mid-February. Deutsche Bank, Jones
Lang LaSalle Hotels and JP Morgan are advising Starwood on the disposition of this collection of luxury, award-winning
hotels and have now begun actively marketing these assets. In contrast to prior announcements, Starwood will now
entertain indicative offers for 100 percent of the portfolio and/or proposals for individual or groups of assets.
Starwood intends to maintain long-term management of the assets under its various brands.
The CIGA portfolio includes many of Europe's finest luxury hotels, including the Danieli and Gritti Palace in Venice,
the Grand Hotel in Florence, The Principe de Savoia in Milan, the St. Regis Grand in Rome and The Westin Palace
in Madrid, all of which are listed on Conde Nast Traveler's prestigious 2002 Gold List. The CIGA portfolio operates
under Starwood's St. Regis, Luxury Collection, Westin and Sheraton brands. CIGA's assets also include 5,900 acres
of undeveloped land in Sardinia, as well as non-hotel assets there including golf courses and marinas, which strongly
complement the existing four premier CIGA resorts in the surrounding area and have significant potential for future
development.
``The CIGA portfolio is comprised of trophy assets that are unrivaled in the industry and we expect considerable
interest and aggressive pricing,'' said Ron Brown, Starwood's Chief Financial Officer. `` EBITDA growth for this
portfolio has been among our fastest and, consequently, this has been a very difficult decision but one that we
believe will best recognize and enhance shareholder value.''
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the
world with 750 properties in more than 80 countries and 110,000 employees at its owned and managed properties.
With internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels and
resorts including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W brands, as well
as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval
ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwood.com.
For further information contact Deutsche Bank:
In Europe: Hilary Bowman 44-207-547-6798
hilary.g.bowman@db.com
In the US: Paul Whyte 646-324-2266
paul.m.whyte@db.com
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Contact:
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Nadeen N. Ayala, 914/640-8259
Toll-Free: (866) 4-STAR-PR (866-478-2777)