Ashkenazy hired a unit of Merrill Lynch & Co.

Hotelier Severyn Ashkenazy, head of Los Angeles-based Ashkenazy Enterprises, said his company has retained Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, the company’s investment banking arm, to evaluate “several offers from reliable parties” that want to invest in his hotels. Ashkenazy recently revealed that his company needs an infusion of cash because its hotel properties are delinquent on loans of more than $100 million.