U.S. lodging titan Hilton Hotels Corp. said yesterday it has agreed to acquire the international lodging assets of Hilton Group plc for $5.7 billion in cash. U.K.-based Hilton Group may gain up to $6.36 billion for the assets, while the deal would give the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based hotelier 40 new properties overseas.
Expected to close early next year, the deal also reunites Hilton Hotels with its international counterpart, a unit that was spun off of Hilton in the 1960’s.
In other news, three U.S. oil firms have reached an agreement with Libya’s national oil group to resume drilling in the country – after nearly two decades of U.S. imposed sanctions.
ConocoPhillips, the nation’s No. 3 oil group behind Exxon Mobil and Chevron, and Marathon Oil Corp., both of Houston, along with New York’s Amerada Hess Corp. will pay $1.83 billion to resume production in a North African region that produces an average of 350,000 barrels of oil per day.
Finally, the most read story of the hour takes a close look at the potential bubble rising around the buyout industry. — Carolyn Murphy
Hilton buys overseas hotels for $6B
The dreaded "B" word
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