Kirkland Advises Wyndham Worldwide on Sale of European Vacation Rentals Business

Kirkland & Ellis advised Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), one of the largest global hospitality companies, on its agreement to sell its European vacation rental business to Platinum Equity for approximately US$1.3 billion. Wyndham’s European business offers access to more than 45,000 properties through over 20 brands including Hoseasons, cottages.com, James Villa Holidays, Landal GreenParks and Novasol, making it the largest manager of holiday rentals in Europe.

The sale agreement was signed on February 15, 2018 and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018. As part of the sale, the parties have entered into a 20-year agreement whereby the European vacation rental business will pay a fee of 1% net revenue to Wyndham for the right to use the ‘Wyndham Vacation Rentals’ brand.

The transaction required close coordination between teams in London and New York and was led, in London, by corporate partners Matthew Elliott and Celyn Evans, finance partner Jonathan Birks, tax partner Timothy Lowe and intellectual property & technology partner Emma Flett, and, in New York, by corporate partners David Feirstein, Daniel Wolf and David Fox, and tax partner Sara Zablotney.