Two hotel chains: Two spinoffs

Article Excerpt

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $109 (New York symbol WYN; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 102.8 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.wyndhamworldwide.com) plans to spin off its hotel business as Wyndham Hotel Group. The company expects to complete the transaction in the first half of 2018. It has yet to announce the names and trading symbols for those new companies. However, after the spinoff, the remaining company will be the world’s largest publicly traded timeshare corporation by sales. It includes current Wyndham Vacation Ownership and RCI, a vacation-ownership exchange network with more than 4,300 properties in more than 100 countries. Last year, Wyndham’s hotel division generated revenue of $1.3 billion, while its timeshare businesses reported revenue of $3.4 billion. Geoff Ballotti, CEO of Wyndham Hotel Group, will lead the hotel company, while Michael Brown, CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, will lead the timeshare company. Wyndham hired Brown earlier this year. Previously, he was the chief operating officer…