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BET Founder to Buy 100 Hotels
Associated Press
February 15, 2006; Page B6

The development firm controlled by Robert L. Johnson signed a deal to buy 100 hotels for $1.7 billion, a significant expansion of the real-estate holdings of the founder of the Black Entertainment Television network.

Mr. Johnson's RLJ Development LLC will purchase the properties, most of them operating under Hilton and Marriott brand names, from White Lodging Services, of Merrillville, Ind. The hotels are in 12 states, including Illinois, Texas, Colorado, Florida and Indiana.
Mr. Johnson formed RLJ Development, of Washington, D.C., after he sold BET to Viacom Inc. in 2001 for $3 billion.

RLJ Development holds 30 properties. The company will acquire 87 of the White Lodging properties in the second quarter. The other 13 are under construction, and closing is expected within two years. White Lodging will continue to manage the hotels. "We are thrilled to add these hotel properties to the RLJ Development portfolio," Mr. Johnson said.

Mr. Johnson, who formed BET in 1979, owns the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. He left the board of directors of Hilton Hotels Corp. earlier this month.

White Lodging, founded in 1985 by billionaire Dean White, of Crown Point, Ind., had said in October it was seeking to sell the hotels to generate cash and concentrate on hotel management. White Lodging doesn't expect any layoffs and plans to use proceeds from the sale to expand into other markets, said Judy Bronowski, vice president of strategic planning and communications. "It's part of our strategy to generate the liquidity so we can continue growing," she said.
Copyright © 2006 Associated Press