Lenders seize Morgan Stanley’s CNL Hotels

A Morgan Stanley portfolio of eight high-end CNL Hotels & Resorts properties has been seized by a group of lenders in a $600 million debt restructuring deal, sources told Bloomberg News. The lenders, New York-based hedge fund Paulson & Co., Winthrop Realty Trust and Capital Trust, had originally ponied up $1.5 billion in senior debt, $1 billion in mezzanine debt and another $800 million in corporate debt to help finance Morgan Stanley’s $6.7 billion acquisition of the resorts in 2007. But Morgan Stanley has since been struggling with the health of boom-time real estate acquisitions, having racked up $4.4 billion in such losses in 2008 and 2009. The resorts involved in the deal included PGA Tour host venue Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami, the Ritz-Carlton Orlando and JW Marriott Orlando at the Grande Lake Resorts. [Bloomberg]