Wyndham Vacation Ownership Acquires Shell Vacations

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Two of the timeshare industry's biggest players have merged.

Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) made it official Sept. 14 when it announced its subsidiary, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, acquired privately held Shell Vacations LLC and its subsidiaries for approximately $102 million in cash.

Shell is one of the largest independent vacation ownership club and property management groups, serving approximately 115,000 members and 19 managed resorts in North America. The acquisition also includes $153 million of debt, which is primarily related to consumer loan receivables.

Under the terms of the agreement, Wyndham Vacation Ownership assumes property management operations at 19 Shell resort locations in Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin, Texas, New Hampshire and Canada. Wyndham will also operate Shell Vacations Club (SVC), a leading points-based reservation and exchange system featuring a wide variety of member benefits and travel options, and assumes management of all Shell marketing, sales and financial services activities.

 "With a history that spans more than four decades, Shell Vacations is both a pioneer and a respected leader within the hospitality industry," said Franz S. Hanning, President and CEO, Wyndham Vacation Ownership. "We look forward to building upon Shell's achievements and continuing the growth of its highly successful vacation club by pursuing the same formula of providing outstanding quality, value and customer care."

Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 160 vacation ownership resorts serving over 813,000 owners throughout North America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific.

Parent company Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., encompasses more than 7,170 hotels and 608,300 rooms worldwide and employs approximately 27,800 employees globally.

"We're excited to leverage the significant scale and expertise of (Wyndham Vacation Ownership)," said timeshare icon Shelly Ginsburg, Chairman and CEO, Shell Vacations. "We believe our strong commitment to owner and guest satisfaction is complemented by WVO's demonstrated strength in managing one of the most extensive and diversified timeshare resort portfolios."