Starwood Purchases Remaining 50 per cent Interest in Toronto's Sheraton Centre Hotel

Clocktower Hotel Limited Partnership, through its General Partner Starwood Canada Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., completed the purchase of the remaining 50 per cent interest in the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel on April 3, 2001 for C$75 million. The interest in the hotel was purchased from Metropolitan Marine Way Investments, Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which owned a 50 per cent interest in the hotel together with Clocktower. The result of this transaction is that Clocktower is now the 100 per cent owner of the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. The Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel is one of the largest hotels in Canada, with 1,377 rooms.

Clocktower was represented by Miller Thomson LLP with a team including Larry Iron, Peter Smith (Competition Act and Investment Canada matters), Jennifer Babe (PPSA and securities), Paul Jones (liquor licensing) and Hank White. Clocktower was also represented by James Latham, in-house counsel for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., out of New York City. Metropolitan was represented by Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. The team was comprised of Jim Hilton, David O’Brien and Elizabeth Phalen. In-house legal counsel from Metropolitan included Lisa Vahdat and Munira Hirji in the New York office and Christine Taschereau in the Ottawa office. The City of Toronto, which is the landlord under the ground lease for the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel and which was required to consent to the transaction, was represented by Duncan McRae of the City Solicitor’s Office.

Lawyer(s)

Jim Hilton Peter H. Smith David O'Brien Jennifer E. Babe Lawrence H. Iron Henry White Paul D. Jones Elizabeth Phalen