Signature Resorts to Buy Maui Hotel

Signature Resorts Inc. said it will buy Hawaii Embassy Suites’ resort hotel on Kaanapali Beach, Maui, from a Japanese partnership for about $78 million and convert 157 of the 413 suites into vacation condominiums. Signature will lead an investment group that includes Goldman, Sachs & Co.’s Whitehall Fund and Apollo Real Estate Advisors. The group will buy the hotel at a “substantial discount,” Signature said in a statement. The Los Angeles-based company said it will begin condominium sales in 1998. The hotel is currently operated by Memphis-based Promus Hotel Corp., which runs Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites hotels in North America, Latin America and Asia. Signature owns 22 resort hotels, including one in Hawaii and others in the U.S. and the Caribbean. Shares of Signature fell 81 cents to close at $34.06 on Nasdaq. Promus shares were unchanged at $39.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.