Word: itt
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...ITT FINALLY SLAMS THE DOOR ON HILTON...
Looks like checkout time for Hilton Corp.'s Stephen Bollenbach. After an entertaining nine-month battle, replete with name calling, to buy ITT and its prized Sheraton properties and Caesars hotels and casinos, Bollenbach came up empty. But the escape from Hilton cost ITT its independence. Fearful that ITT shareholders would accept Hilton's $70 a share offer in two weeks, ITT chairman Rand Araskog pulled a rabbit out of a hat by agreeing to sell ITT to Starwood Lodging for $82 a share. That's 17% more than Hilton's "final" offer...
Starwood Lodging, a real estate investment trust (REIT) based in Phoenix, Ariz., was able to outbid Hilton because of a loophole in the tax laws that jacks up a reit's market value. If ITT stockholders approve the deal, the new combination would become the largest lodging company in the world, with 650 hotels in 70 countries and total annual revenues of more than $10 billion. As for Araskog, 65, under the plan he will step down next year and get a seat on Starwood's board plus a consolation prize: a $55 million severance package that was designed...
...over, right? Well...there is an enticing story line that could have the wily Araskog pulling off one last masterly stroke. Once ITT shareholders formally reject Hilton's bid next month, the ITT chairman could cancel the Starwood deal and continue his 18-year reign over the company. No one ever played Monopoly like this...
...Price is an activist investor who has made millions buying large chunks of companies and then fomenting change to boost the stock price. He forced the merger of Chase and Chemical banks in 1995. He is currently engaged in a public battle with Dow Jones & Co. as well as ITT. And, oh, yes, little more than a year ago, Price, a 21% owner of Sunbeam, got Dunlap hired as CEO. The pay was right: Dunlap got 2.5 million stock options that, if all could be exercised today, would bring him $70 million. So when Dunlap and Price sent ITT...