La Quinta To Explore Split, Shares Up Nearly 4%

Shares of La Quinta Holdings Inc. rose nearly 4% late Wednesday after the hotel chain said it is pursuing to split its business in two stand-alone, publicly traded companies. The deal could involve "spinning off our owned real estate assets as a separate company," La Quinta said in a statement. There is "no assurance" the split will happen, the Irving, Texas, company said. J.P. Morgan is acting as financial advisor. Shares of La Quinta had ended the day up 1.4%, compared with gains of 0.2% for the S&P 500 index.