 Crescent Real Estate Equities Co, a real-estate investment trust founded by Richard Rainwater, and its partners have agreed to sell US properties including the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa for US$620 million to Walton TCC Hotel Investors, just days after Walton terminated its offer. Crescent's share of the gross purchase price will be US$580 million, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company said in a statement distributed by Business Wire. The sale includes the Sonoma Golf Club and Ventana Inn & Spa in California, the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa and Denver Marriott hotel in Colorado, Bloomberg News said. Walton on April 2 canceled a deal to buy the properties for US$625 million, without giving a reason. The parties "reinstated and amended the original purchase agreement" on Friday, and the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter, according to the statement. Crescent, owner and manager of 71 office buildings with 28 million square feet (2.6 million square meters) of space, rejected a bid in August last year for some of its assets. On March 1, the company said it would sell its resorts and hotels to concentrate on being an office landlord whose portfolio would be more easily embraced by investors. "By becoming a pure play office REIT, we will have a simpler business model with a higher quality earnings stream that will be easier to understand and to value," Chief Executive Officer John Goff said in the March 1 statement. The company also said it would cut administrative expenses by more than US$17 million and restate earnings for nine fiscal years, said the statement.Rainwater, 62, is the third-largest Crescent shareholder and its biggest individual investor with 5.2 million shares, according to Bloomberg data. More News:
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