Brussels, 22/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - Under the EU Merger Regulation, the European Commission has cleared the acquisition of 23 Le Meridien hotels by the United States' Lehman Brothers, Starwood Capital Group (SCG) and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (Starwood). The 23 hotels that are the subject of this clearance are owned or leased by Le Meridien, and are located mainly in the EU. Following completion of the planned deal, the Le Meridien owned and leased hotel portfolio (comprised of 35 hotels worldwide) will be sold to Newco, jointly controlled by Lehman Brothers and SCG. Conditional to this transaction, Starwood shall enter into management agreements with each hotel owned and leased by Newco. Given the characteristics of the agreements, only 23 of Le Meridien hotels are subject to the present transaction. The acquisition of the remaining 12 hotels does not fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. The Commission's examination showed that the horizontal overlaps between the parties' activities in the hotel accommodation sector were limited both nationally and locally, and there is strong competition from other hotel operators.