P.M. BRIEFING : Aoki/Westin to Buy Swissotel

Swissair, the national airline of Switzerland, today announced the sale of its worldwide Swissotel hotel operations to the giant Aoki/Westin group of Japan.

The price was not disclosed pending final agreement.

Swissotel fully owns or has a major stake in 12 luxury hotels including four in the United States--the Drake in New York, the Lafayette in Boston, the Swiss Grand in Chicago and the Swiss Grand in Atlanta.

Swissotel, which has a total of 3,130 employees, also manages five other leading hotels.

A spokesman for Swissair said the sale will become final as soon as smaller shareholders in some of the hotels approve the transaction.

“It was decided to seek a buyer because Swissotel failed to reach the total of 30 or so hotels which were seen necessary to make operations profitable,” the spokesman said. “Aoki/Westin was chosen because it will give Swissair access to nearly 100 top hotels around the world.”