Hilton buys Scandic in £612m deal
Britain's Hilton hotels group doubled its size this week when it bought Swedish listed hotel operating company Scandic in a cash-and-shares offer of £612m.
The board of Scandic unanimously recommended share-holders and share option holders to accept the bid on Monday.
Hilton will take over the management and leases of 154 hotels, 133 in Scandinavia and 21 in the rest of Europe.
Hilton chief executive David Michels said 20 of the 133 hotels in Scandinavia would be converted to Hiltons, the rest remaining under the Scandic name. In the rest of Europe 17 of the 21 Scandic hotels will become Hiltons.
Hilton will give Scandic shareholders 108 Swedish krona (£7.35) and 1.1238 Hilton shares for each Scandic share, a 31% increase on the Scandic share value at the end of last week.
