The group of senior lenders on a loan to help finance Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. (HMIN)’s purchase of Motel 168 International Holdings Ltd. will be completed this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Four banks have already joined the facility, which is about $250 million in size, as senior lenders, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which are also financial advisers to the acquisition, are arranging the loan.

The phase in which banks are being invited to join as senior lenders and underwriters will likely close this week and the facility will be opened for general syndication in a few weeks, the person said. The senior lenders are targeting total commitments of $50 million to $60 million from banks in general syndication, the person said.

Home Inns, which operates 934 hotels across 164 cities in China according to its website, agreed to buy budget hotel chain operator Motel 168 in May for $470 million in cash, debt and shares. The deal “will create the most geographically diverse economy hotel operation in China,” Home Inns said in a May 27 statement. Home Inns received antitrust approval on Sept. 2 for the planned acquisition, which is expected to be completed by the end of this month, another person familiar with the matter said today.

Source:bloomberg