Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. (Nasdaq: HMIN), a leading economy hotel chain in China, announced that it has received anti-trust approval from the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China for its proposed acquisition of Motel 168 International Holdings Limited ("Motel 168"), one of the major branded economy hotel operators in China. With this development, Home Inns now expects to close the acquisition by the end of the third quarter of 2011, subject to all other closing conditions being satisfied.

Home Inns announced on May 27, 2011 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% ownership interest in Motel 168 for a total of US$470 million, consisting of approximately US$305 million in cash, and 8.15 million Home Inns' ordinary shares at a price equivalent to a per-ADS price of US$40.37 (each Nasdaq-traded Home Inns' ADS represents two ordinary shares) to be issued at the time of closing. The cash portion will be funded with Home Inns' cash on hand, as well as a new US$250 million four-year senior secured term loan. Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisors to Home Inns and mandated lead arrangers for the new term loan.

"We experienced a smooth and timely anti-trust approval process for the Motel 168 acquisition, and now expect the transaction to close earlier than the originally estimated fourth quarter," said Mr. David Sun, Chief Executive Officer of Home Inns. "We are very excited about this development, and look forward to a prompt closing and the addition of the Motel 168 business to our Company in the near future."

Home Inns is a leading economy hotel chain in China based on the number of hotels and hotel rooms, as well as the geographic coverage of the hotel chain. Since Home Inns commenced operations in 2002, it has become one of the best-known economy hotel brands in China. Home Inns offers a consistent product and high-quality services to primarily serve the fast growing population of value-conscious individual business and leisure travelers who demand clean, comfortable and convenient lodging. Home Inns' ADSs, each of which represents two ordinary shares, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "HMIN."

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Source:hotelnewsresource