http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...n.58bdc1ac.html Cendant to buy Wyndham for $100 million 12:45 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 Bloomberg News Wyndham Intl "A" 1.14 3:58 PM ET N/A Previous close: 1.14 Cendant Corp., owner of the Days Inn brand, will acquire the Wyndham hotel brand and franchise system for $100 million to enter the upscale lodging business. Franchise agreements for 82 hotels and management contracts for 29 hotels are included in the agreement with Wyndham International Inc., an affiliate of the Blackstone Group, New York-based Cendant said today in a statement. The purchase is the first by Cendant since July, when it completed a plan to shed businesses unrelated to travel and real estate. Cendant, the largest U.S. real estate and travel company, owns brands including Century 21 and Avis Rent A Car. Cendant agreed July 26 to sell its marketing services unit to Apollo Management LP for $1.83 billion, the final step in its plan to simplify the business. Before that Cendant Chief Executive Henry Silverman divested tax preparation, auto-fleet billing and mortgage units to help fund more than $3.1 billion in acquisitions since 2003. The agreement with Wyndham also includes the worldwide rights to the Wyndham brand for timeshare development and sales. No properties are being acquired as part of the transaction, Cendant said. The company yesterday lowered its 2005 profit forecast by 4 cents a share because of damage and lost business from Hurricane Katrina. Shares of Cendant, which also operates the Orbitz travel service, rose 13 cents to $20.36 at 9:44 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Through yesterday they declined 9.2 percent this year.