Blackstone to acquire Strategic Hotels for $3.9B

Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) agreed to purchase Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: BEE) in a $3.9 billion deal to increase hotel holdings.

Strategic owns luxury lodging properties including Manhattan’s famous Essex House and the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Blackstone offered to pay $14.25 per share in cash for the company, nearly 1.3 percent above the $14.07 price at the market’s open on Tuesday.

Strategic also attracted an offer from Cascade Investment. The Bill Gates-owned company increased its holdings in Strategic to 9.8 percent last month.

Blackstone also will purchase the outstanding units of subsidiary company Strategic Hotels Funding LLC. Including debt, Blackstone and Strategic value the deal at about $6 billion, according to Bloomberg Business.

Read more from Bloomberg Business.