Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

TURNING TO INTRALINKS® FOR ASSISTANCE, FAIRMONT WAS ABLE TO HOLD DISCUSSIONS WITH POTENTIAL STRATEGIC PARTNERS, HOST AN AUCTION, FIND ITS WHITE KNIGHT, AND DISCOVER A BETTER WAY OF MANAGING CRITICAL COMPANY INFORMATION, ALL WITHIN JUST 45 DAYS.

"We’ve taken our exchange and converted it into an evergreen long-term records retention system, which gives our team access to this wealth of information anywhere in the world."

Terence P. Badour Executive Vice President, Law and Administration, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International

THE SITUATION

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts needed to move quickly to keep the company intact. Its first line of defense was to look for a strategic partner to counter Icahn’s bid. To support this process, the company needed to make thousands of documents available to the dozens of advisors conducting due diligence for this partnership. Then, when efforts to find a partner failed, Fairmont moved to a full-blown auction process. This meant that even more parties would be involved and would need access to the company’s information.

THE PROBLEM

With more than 150,000 pages of information to make available to multiple potential buyers at one time, in a matter of weeks, a traditional paper-based dataroom was not an option.

THE IMPLICATIONS

The need to move quickly to find the right buyers, while maintaining strict confidentiality, was paramount.

THE SOLUTION

Fairmont’s law firm, McCarthy Tetrault, recommended Intralinks. McCarthy had used Intralinks for other transactions and knew the company could deliver the level of service and speed required. Within hours of choosing Intralinks, the team began organizing information detailing Fairmont’s real estate portfolio and management business on Intralinks.TM Access levels were set at the document level. Potential partners were provided with basic information at first. As they became more serious, they were granted access to more sensitive documents with the click of a mouse. This enabled Fairmont to protect its competitive secrets while enabling authorized suitors to complete their due diligence efficiently.

THE RESULT

More than 500 users reviewed documents simultaneously on the exchange. At its peak, 30 potential buyers were conducting due diligence. Business intelligence reporting helped Fairmont better prepare for questions and understand how buyers would value the company. It also enabled them to see which buyers were serious. In the end, Fairmont secured a bid with a 30% premium over Icahn’s hostile offer.

THE BENEFIT

Fairmont continues to use Intralinks as a centralized repository to streamline operations. Critical property, marketing and strategic planning data is now at the fingertips of key staff worldwide whenever they need it, thus increasing efficiency and reducing costs.