Interstate Hotels & Resorts, a leading hotel real estate investor and the nation’s largest independent hotel management company, recently announced that RiskMetrics Group, Inc. (formerly Institutional Shareholder Services), Glass Lewis & Co. and PROXY Governance, Inc., three leading independent proxy advisory firms, recommend that Interstate stockholders vote „FOR“ the company’s proposed merger with Hotel Acquisition Company, LLC („HAC“).
ARLINGTON – HAC is a 50/50 joint venture between subsidiaries of Thayer Hotel Investors V-A LP, a private equity fund sponsored by Thayer Lodging Group („Thayer Lodging“), and Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) Company Limited („Jin Jiang Hotels“).
As previously announced, under the terms of the merger agreement, HAC will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Interstate for $2.25 per share in an all-cash transaction, which represents a 77.2 percent premium over the closing price of Interstate’s common stock on December 17, 2009, the last trading day prior to the execution and announcement of the merger agreement.
Interstate urges stockholders to follow the recommendations of RiskMetrics, Glass Lewis and PROXY Governance by signing, dating and returning the company’s proxy card today. Interstate stockholders who have questions or require assistance voting their shares should contact the company’s proxy solicitor, MacKenzie Partners, Inc., toll-free at (800) 322-2885 or collect at (212) 929-5500.
The vote of Interstate’s stockholders is very important regardless of the number of shares of common stock they own. Whether or not stockholders are able to attend the Special Meeting in person, to ensure their votes are counted, stockholders are urged to vote by telephone or Internet as soon as possible. If stockholders fail to return their proxy cards, fail to register their vote by telephone or Internet, fail to attend the Special Meeting and vote in person, or fail to instruct their broker on how to vote, it will have the same effect as a vote against approval of the merger agreement.
Picture: Carstino Delmonte/ Touristikpresse.net (archive)
