Morgans Hotel Group Refinances the Mortgage Loan Secured by Hudson

NEW YORK, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Morgans Hotel Group Co. (NASDAQ: MHGC) ("Morgans"), the New York-based hospitality management company, today announced that it has successfully executed a new $180 million non-recourse loan secured by Hudson in New York.  The proceeds were used to retire the previous mortgage loan on Hudson of $115 million and fund reserves required under the new loan, with the remainder available for general corporate purposes.

"This new financing demonstrates the significant equity value we have in Hudson," said Michael Gross, CEO of Morgans. "We recently completed renovating all the guest rooms at Hudson and anticipate adding another 32 rooms later this year, bringing the total number of rooms up to 866. With this new capital and the sales process at Delano well underway, we are significantly improving our liquidity and believe we are well positioned to address upcoming maturities."

The loan can be prepaid at any time and there is no prepayment premium after the first twelve months. Interest is calculated at LIBOR plus 8.40% with a 0.50% LIBOR floor. The loan matures in February 2014 with a one year extension option to February 2015.  The lender is UBS Real Estate Securities Inc.

About Morgans Hotel Group

Morgans Hotel Group Co. (NASDAQ: MHGC) is widely credited as the creator of the first "boutique" hotel and a continuing leader of the hotel industry's boutique sector. Morgans Hotel Group operates Delano in South Beach and Marrakech, Mondrian in Los Angeles, South Beach and New York, Hudson in New York, Morgans and Royalton in New York, Shore Club in South Beach, Clift in San Francisco, Ames in Boston, Sanderson and St Martins Lane in London, and a hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  Morgans Hotel Group has ownership interests in or owns several of these hotels. Morgans Hotel Group has other property transactions in various stages of completion, including Delano properties in Las Vegas, Nevada; Cesme, Turkey and Moscow, Russia; Mondrian properties in London, England; Marrakech, Morocco; Istanbul, Turkey; Doha, Qatar and Nassau, The Bahamas; and a Hudson in London, England. Morgans Hotel Group also owns a 90% controlling interest in The Light Group, a leading lifestyle food and beverage company. For more information please visit www.morganshotelgroup.com.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This press release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the operating performance of our investments and financing needs and prediction of certain future other events. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate" "believe," "project," or other similar words or expressions. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that may cause our actual results or other future events to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Important risks and factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to economic, business, competitive market and regulatory conditions such as: a sustained downturn in economic and market conditions, particularly levels of spending in the business, travel and leisure industries; continued tightness in the global credit markets; general volatility of the capital markets and our ability to access the capital markets; our ability to refinance our current outstanding debt and to repay outstanding debt as such debt matures; our ability to protect the value of our name, image and brands and our intellectual property; risks related to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes; hostilities, including future terrorist attacks, or fear of hostilities that affect travel; and other risk factors discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, and other documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof, based upon information known to management as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligations to update or revise any of its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes show that indicated results or events will not be realized.

SOURCE Morgans Hotel Group Co.