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Wednesday, February 02, 2005
The transaction is expected to close on or before March 31, 2005 subject to the terms of the definitive agreement and further approvals. Following TSX approval, AFM expects to complete the transaction primarily for stock and other consideration.
AFM previously announced that it had retained European Investment Advisors to pursue a Private Placement by midyear, with proceeds to provide the working capital and the cash portion of acquisitions of similar interactive luxury hospitality and travel businesses.
More than 70 independent four-and-five star hotels, resorts and spas largely based in the United States and the Caribbean have marketing partnerships with the HRW brands. These partnerships increase awareness, bookings and tracking with more than 20,000 travel trade and meetings and incentives professionals through the Insider Collection and Insider Meetings brands, plus direct web bookings through the Insider Consumer Direct brand and its One-Search technology.
HRW was founded by Melinda Bush, the well-known hotel and travel marketing expert, who as the publishing director of the highly successful Hotel & Travel Index, Premier Hotels & Resorts and Luxury Travel Expo established a reputation for creating high-value businesses for the industry. The Insider Collection brands combine editorial environments and online reservation technologies that target highly qualified travel professionals, consumers and meeting planners with useful editorial and online booking capabilities.
In making the announcement, Lawrence P. Horwitz, chairman and chief executive officer of AFM Hospitality Corp., stated "Melinda Bush is recognized as a trusted expert on luxury properties worldwide and how to market them effectively through key customer distribution channels. Over the past three years, HRW has developed an outstanding set of membership databases, marketing partnerships and proprietary technologies that are needed throughout the global travel industry. We see a tremendous opportunity to grow the HRW brands in a rapid and dramatic manner," he added.
In addition, Mr. Horwitz continued, "Melinda Bush and her team add further strength to AFM's Luxury Services Division. Our mission is to make our properties more competitive, help them build market share and find more effective ways of delivering key customer groups. The HRW brands and top level management team are an ideal complement to our Boutique Hotels & Resorts International Brand and others we have in our development pipeline." Mrs. Bush, Hospitality Resources Worldwide's President and CEO, commented, "We are delighted with the opportunity to accelerate our growth through joining the fast-growing AFM family of luxury brands. We look forward to bringing our proprietary marketing technologies to a new base of properties, and bringing a wider range of selection options to our travel trade professionals and the clients they serve." Mrs. Bush will remain CEO of the HRW subsidiary as well as to become Vice Chairman of the AFM Luxury Service Division.
About Hospitality Resources Worldwide, LLC. - Mrs. Bush founded Hospitality Resources Worldwide LLC and the Insider Collection(R) in 2001 to improve communications and trackable production between independent four- and five-star properties and their key target markets. Member properties benefit from extensive electronic marketing support from The Insider Collection, to its proprietary databases of travel agents and meeting planners, as well as extensive distribution on the Web.
Elite travel agents identified by Mrs. Bush's exclusive database receive preferred rates and V.I.P. treatment for their clients at Insider Collection member properties. Meeting planners using the Meetings & Incentives Network as an exclusive "recommendations" database to help select the right properties, and use a multi-property, online RFP process to contact the properties. HRW's proprietary One Search Travel(R) optimization technology achieves dramatically better presence for HRW clients marketing travel directly to consumers via the web.
About AFM Hospitality Corporation - Through its subsidiary companies, AFM Hospitality Corporation operates or has open and/or executed franchise, management and membership agreements with more than 300 hotels, restaurants and other nationally franchised service businesses throughout Canada and fifteen other countries. The company's focus is to be a leader in global hospitality management and franchising; InterActive Reservations Platforms and Marketing Solutions; and luxury lifestyle brands and branded services. AFM Hospitality Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: AFM - News) and may be reached at www.afmcorp.com.
Forward Looking Information - This Press Release contains certain forward-looking statements and information from AFM Hospitality Corporation relating, but not limited to, the company's operations, anticipated financial performance, business prospects and strategies. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. By its nature, AFM Hospitality Corporation's forward-looking information involves numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the following factors: changes in business strategies; general global economic and business conditions; the effects of competition and pricing pressures; hotel industry overcapacity; shifts in market demand; changes in laws and regulation; uncertainties of litigation; labor disputes; timing of completion of capital or maintenance projects by both franchised and managed hotels; currency and interest rate fluctuations; various events which disrupt operations; and technological changes. AFM Hospitality Corporation undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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AFM Hospitality Corporation
36 Toronto Street Suite 750
Toronto,
ON
Phone: (416) 361-1010