SHANGHAI, September 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. ("Home Inns", Nasdaq: HMIN), a leading economy hotel chain in China, today announced that it has received anti-trust approval from the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China for its proposed acquisition of Motel 168 International Holdings Limited ("Motel 168"), one of the major branded economy hotel operators in China. With this development, Home Inns now expects to close the acquisition by the end of the third quarter of 2011, subject to all other closing conditions being satisfied.
Home Inns announced on May 27, 2011 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% ownership interest in Motel 168 for a total of US$470 million, consisting of approximately US$305 million in cash, and 8.15 million Home Inns' ordinary shares at a price equivalent to a per-ADS price of US$40.37 (each Nasdaq-traded Home Inns' ADS represents two ordinary shares) to be issued at the time of closing. The cash portion will be funded with Home Inns' cash on hand, as well as a new US$250 million four-year senior secured term loan. Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisors to Home Inns and mandated lead arrangers for the new term loan.
"We experienced a smooth and timely anti-trust approval process for the Motel 168 acquisition, and now expect the transaction to close earlier than the originally estimated fourth quarter," said Mr. David Sun, Chief Executive Officer of Home Inns. "We are very excited about this development, and look forward to a prompt closing and the addition of the Motel 168 business to our Company in the near future."
About Home Inns
Home Inns is a leading economy hotel chain in China based on the number of hotels and hotel rooms, as well as the geographic coverage of the hotel chain. Since Home Inns commenced operations in 2002, it has become one of the best-known economy hotel brands in China. Home Inns offers a consistent product and high-quality services to primarily serve the fast growing population of value-conscious individual business and leisure travelers who demand clean, comfortable and convenient lodging. Home Inns' ADSs, each of which represents two ordinary shares, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "HMIN." For more information about Home Inns, please visit http://english.homeinns.com.
Safe Harbor
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Any statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include our anticipated growth strategies; our future results of operations and financial condition; the economic conditions of China; the regulatory environment in China; our ability to attract customers and leverage our brand; trends and competition in the lodging industry; the expected growth of the lodging market in China; our ability to close ongoing transactions; and other factors and risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release also contains statements or projections that are based upon information available to the public, as well as other information from sources which management believes to be reliable, but it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate, nor do we purport it to be complete. We undertake no obligation to update or revise to the public any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
Ethan Ruan
Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc.
Tel: +86-21-3401-9898*2004
Email: zjruan@homeinns.com
Cara O'Brien
FTI Consulting
Tel: +852-3768-4537
Email: cara.obrien@fticonsulting.com
