Marriott Corporation and Project Chariot Essay -- Marriott Case Analys

Marriott Corporation and Project Chariot   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Marriott Corporation (MC), had seen a long, successful reign in the hospitality industry until the late 1980s. An economic downturn and the 1990 real estate crash resulted in MC owning newly developed hotel properties with no potential buyers in sight and a mound of debt. During the late 1980s, MC had promised in their annual reports to sell off some of their hotel properties and reduce their burden of debt. However, the company made little progress toward fulfilling that promise. During 1992, MC realized that financial results were only slightly up from the previous year and their ability to raise funds in the capital market was severely limited. MC was left with little choice, as they had to consider some major changes within the company if they wished to remain a successful business. Thus, J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman of the board and president of MC, turned to Stephen Bollenbach, the new chief financial officer, for ideas and guidance. Bollenbach, who had a reputation for creating innovative financial structures in the hotel industry, proposed a radical restructuring for MC. Bollenbach’s proposal included breaking MC into two separate entities. The new company would retain the service businesses of MC and have the financial strength to raise capital and take advantage of various investment opportunities. On the other hand, the old company would retain the hotel properties and the pressure to sell properties at reduced prices would be greatly lessened. This drastic restructuring proposal, deemed Project Chariot, had to be evaluated by J.W. Marriott before he went before his board of directors with his ultimate recommendation. Thus, Marriott planned to review the company’s past financial history that led to their current position; evaluate Project Chariot’s advantages, disadvantages and value; determine the bond risk involved if Project Chariot was accepted and finally consider alternative recomm endations. Past History of MC By the 1980’s, the Marriot Corporation, founded in 1927, had grown into a financially sound, industry-leading corporation. Although MC went public in 1953 and continued to sell stock to the public, the Marriott family still retained the controlling interest of 25% of the company in 1992. Once J.W Marriott Sr. resigned in 1964, his son, J.W. Marriott Jr., took over the posi... ...th the restructuring proposed by Project Chariot. The Management team of HMC must aggressively restructure its finances in order to alleviate this debt and reduce its risk of bankruptcy or take-over.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Also, if possible actions should be taken to ease the worries of existing bondholders and institutional investors. Management may consider sharing the debt more equally between the two divisions in an effort to prevent downgrading of the credit rating and loss of investors. References Answers.com. Leveraged Buy Out. Retrieved July 17, 2005 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.answers.com/topic/leveraged-buyout High yield or â€Å"junk† bonds. Retrieved July 18, 2005 from http://www.finpipe.com/bndjunk.htm http://www.investopedia.com/university/mergers/mergers4.asp. Retrieved July 16, 2005. Ross, S., et. al. (2001). Corporate Finance. McGraw-Hill Companies. Yawson, A. (October 20, 2004). Performance shocks, turnaround strategies, and corporate recovery: Evidence from Australia. Retrieved July 18, 2005 from http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:2aoQ4Wn2y8MJ:wwwdocs.fce.unsw.edu.au/banking/workpap/wp%252010%25202004.pdf+australian+strategies+corporate+restructuring&hl=en&ie=UTF-8