Hilton Worldwide completes restructuring of substantially all debt

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, April 8 - Hilton Worldwide has completed a restructuring of substantially all of its existing debt, according to a company news release.

The company said the restructuring extends the maturity of the debt until November 2015 and reduces Hilton Worldwide's total debt by nearly $4 billion.

The transaction was completed through the purchase and retirement of $1.8 billion of debt and the conversion of $2.1 billion of junior mezzanine debt to preferred equity.

"This debt restructuring is another important step forward for the company, and I would like to thank all of our lenders as well as our investors, led by Blackstone, for their tremendous efforts in completing this transaction," president and chief executive officer Christopher J. Nassetta said in the release.

"Together with several recent achievements, Hilton Worldwide is positioned very well to capitalize on the recovery in the hospitality industry."

Hilton Worldwide said its recent accomplishments include:

• Adding 302 new hotels in 2009;

• Becoming the leading hotel company in the United States by number of open and operating rooms;

• Maintaining a robust development pipeline that includes more than 900 hotels in 57 countries;

• Ranking the highest in brand equity with its Hilton brand compared to all the other major hotel brands in the industry in the 2010 EquiTrend study conducted by Harris Interactive;

• Opening the 500th hotel for its Hilton Garden Inn brand, which is still rapidly growing with hotels either opened or soon to open in 11 countries around the world; and

• Enabling Home2 Suites by Hilton to become the fastest growing brand in Hilton Worldwide's history with 100 properties scheduled to open by the end of 2013 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Hilton Worldwide is a McLean, Va., global hospitality company.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.