Choice received nearly 14% of Wyndham shares in exchange

NATIONAL REPORT – Choice Hotels International has disclosed that ~11 million Wyndham Hotels & Resort shares were tendered but not properly withdrawn as of the exchange offer’s March 8 deadline, according to an R.W. Baird note. With Choice owning another 1.45 million shares, the exchange offer in full garnered 13.6% of Wyndham’s shares – perhaps a bit more than anticipated.

Now that Choice has withdrawn its bid to acquire Wyndham, R.W. Baird analyst Michael Bellisario wrote on Monday afternoon that, for now, the focus for both companies turns to stand-alone strategies, “but the amount of Wyndham shares tendered is a good baseline for investors to remember, especially if the political/regulatory backdrop changes in 2025.”

Bellisario noted that before the tender deadline, Baird would have been surprised if >10% of Wyndham shares were tendered.

“We believe the ~14% figure is a good line in the sand for the investment community to remember over the near term, especially if the political/regulatory backdrop were to change in 2025 post-election later this year,” Bellisario wrote. “For now, the focus for each company is on execution and closing the stocks' valuation gaps (both absolutely and relatively) versus peers and historical levels, which has captured investors’ focus since Choice walked away from its M&A pursuit (based on our conversations and level of inbound interest).”