Ramada Vacation Suites owner to buy Houston resort company

Thursday, March 21, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

The owner of the Ramada Vacation Suites timeshare operation is acquiring a Houston resort company.

Las Vegas-based Mego Financial Corp., whose Preferred Equities Corp. operates Ramada Vacation Suites properties in Nevada, New Jersey, Colorado, Florida and Hawaii, said today it signed a letter of intent to buy Raintree Resorts International Inc.

Terms were not disclosed. Raintree's chief executive officer, Douglas Bech, will continue in that capacity with Raintree, which will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mego and remain based in Houston.

Raintree operates upscale vacation ownership resorts in North America with resorts in popular beachfront, mountain and golf destinations in the United States, Mexico and Canada. In Las Vegas, Raintree has a relationship with Las Vegas-based Diamond Resorts International to sell timeshare intervals in the Polo Towers property. The company did not disclose how many time units it has sold in Las Vegas.

Bob Brewton, chief investment officer with Raintree, said his company would work with Mego to further develop the Ramada Vacation Suites brand.