HOSPITALITY

Hilton Seeks to Raise Credit Line: The Beverly Hills-based hotel concern said it is trying to increase its short-term borrowing limit to $1.75 billion from $600 million. About $1.5 billion would be used to fund acquisitions of hotels and casinos, said Scott La Porta, Hilton’s treasurer. The remaining $250 million would be used in the form of lines of credit for general corporate uses. Hilton Hotels Corp. hopes to close the deal by mid-November, executives said, but they declined to say if they had specific acquisitions in mind. Hilton has been rumored to have bid for 10 hotels from Britain’s Lonrho to gain a presence in the North American and Caribbean resort business, but a Hilton spokesman declined to comment on those rumors. Growth through acquisitions has been Hilton’s rallying cry since Stephen Bollenbach took over as chief executive in February. The company’s biggest acquisition so far has been Bally Entertainment Corp. for $2 billion.