WYN set to expand

Article Excerpt

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $121.67 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973-753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide. com; Shares outstanding: 101.3 million; Market cap: $12.0 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) will now buy the hotel franchise and management businesses of La Quinta Holdings, symbol LQ on New York, for $1.95 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Wyndham will acquire La Quinta’s hotel franchise and management business after La Quinta spins off its real-estate assets as CorePoint Lodging Inc. The La Quinta acquisition adds the management of 900 hotels to Wyndham’s portfolio. La Quinta will immediately become one of its flagship brands. Meanwhile, Wyndham continues to move forward with its plan to split its operations into two separate, publicly traded companies. It will do this by spinning off its hotel operations. The remaining company will centre on Wyndham’s time-share business and hold Wyndham Vacation Ownership and RCI (a vacation-ownership exchange network). Wyndham is a hold. hold…