Hyatt Buying Playa Hotels

Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H) will buy Playa Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:PLYA) for about $2.6 billion including debt, net of cash, the company said on Monday, seeking to boost its presence in Mexico and the Caribbean.The acquisition follows rising interest in upscale and luxury offerings outside the U.S. as more Americans take advantage of a stronger dollar.Playa runs 24 high-end, all-inclusive resorts across Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.Hyatt has offered $13.50 per Playa share held, representing a 40.5% premium to its last close on December 20, before the companies announced deal talks. Playa’s shares were up 2% in premarket trading on Monday.Hyatt, which owns a 9.4% stake in Playa, expects the deal to close later this year.It said it would identify third-party buyers for Playa’s owned properties and expects to gain at least $2 billion from the sale of assets by 2027.This is part of Hyatt’s asset-light business model, where the operator prefers not to own physical properties but to manage or franchise them.H added a dime to $164.12, while shares in PLYA jumped 26 cents, or nearly 2% to $13.20.