Hyatt to Acquire Playa Hotels & Resorts
Playa and Hyatt first revealed in December an agreement to negotiate exclusively regarding potential strategic alternatives, including the possibility of an acquisition of Playa by Hyatt. The exclusivity period was then extended by a week, through February 10, 2025.
Then today, Hyatt Hotels announced an agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Playa Hotels & Resorts for $13.50 per share, or approximately $2.6 billion, including approximately $900 million of debt, net of cash.
Playa is an owner and operator of all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica and Hyatt is currently the beneficial owner of 9.4% of Playa’s outstanding shares.
The pending acquisition provides an opportunity to secure long-term management agreements for Hyatt’s luxury all-inclusive Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara branded properties. It also will expand Hyatt’s distribution channels, including ALG Vacations and Unlimited Vacation Club, to Playa’s portfolio, offering additional benefits to guests of Playa hotels.
This pending acquisition marks the next step on a significant growth journey for Hyatt’s all-inclusive portfolio, including the acquisition of Apple Leisure Group in 2021, and the 2024 completion of a 50/50 strategic joint venture with Grupo Piñero, which added the Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts portfolio to Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection, which currently spans approximately 55,000 rooms across Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.
Hyatt remains committed to its asset-light business model and intends to identify third-party buyers for Playa’s owned properties. Following the close of the transaction, Hyatt anticipates realizing at least $2.0 billion of proceeds from asset sales by the end of 2027 and expects asset-light earnings to exceed 90% on a pro forma basis in 2027.
At closing, Hyatt expects to fund 100% of the acquisition with new debt financing and, consistent with maintaining its investment grade profile, expects to pay down over 80% of the new debt financing with proceeds from asset sales.
The acquisition is anticipated to close later this year, subject to Playa shareholder and regulatory approval as well as other customary closing conditions.
Playa Hotels & Resorts
Playa currently owns and/or manages a total portfolio consisting of 24 resorts (9,027 rooms) under the following brands: Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, Hilton All-Inclusive, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, Wyndham Alltra, Seadust, Kimpton, Jewel Resorts and The Luxury Collection.
These all-inclusive resorts are located in Dominican Republic, Mexico and Jamaica. As you can probably tell by the names of the resorts, they belong to other popular programs such as Hilton, IHG and Wyndham, as well as Hyatt.
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