25 Wyndham hotels to sell for $366 million

DALLAS (AP) — Wyndham International Inc. said Friday it will sell 25 hotels for $366 million.

The hotels will be sold to a partnership made up of a private investment fund managed by Goldman Sachs and affiliates of Highgate Holdings.

As part of the agreement, the 15 hotels that operate under the Wyndham name will keep the name until new franchise deals are reached. The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2005.

"The sale of these 25 hotels completes our planned disposition program, a key component of our strategic plan announced in June 1999," Fred J. Kleisner, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Dallas-based chain, said in a statement.

As of Friday, the transaction will result in a $49 million non-cash impairment to the book values of some hotels that will be sold. Upon the close of the transaction in 2005, Wyndham will record a gain of about $34 million on the other hotels being sold.

Over the past five years, Wyndham has sold about 180 properties for gross proceeds of more than $2.5 billion. At the same time, it has grown its core Wyndham brand to more than 150 hotels across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico and the United Kingdom.