EX-99.1 12 d601563dex991.htm EX-99.1 EX-99.1

Exhibit 99.1

SECTION 13(r) DISCLOSURE

After Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (“BXMT”) filed its Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2013, Hilton Worldwide, Inc. (“Hilton”), which may be considered an affiliate of The Blackstone Group L.P. (“Blackstone”), and therefore an affiliate of BXMT, provided the disclosure reproduced below in connection with activities during the second fiscal quarter of 2013. We have not independently verified or participated in the preparation of this disclosure.

“As previously disclosed, during the reporting period, certain individual employees at two Hilton-branded hotels in the United Arab Emirates received routine wage payments as direct deposits to their personal accounts at Bank Melli, an entity identified on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Both of these hotels are owned by a third party, staffed by employees of the third-party owner and operated pursuant to a management agreement between the owner and a Hilton affiliate. In each case, these payments originated from the third-party owner’s account to the personal accounts of the employees at their chosen bank. During the reporting period, both hotels discontinued making direct deposits to accounts at Bank Melli. No revenues or net profits are associated with these transactions.

Also as previously disclosed, during the reporting period, several individuals stayed at the DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, pursuant to a rate agreement between the hotel and Mahan Air, an entity identified on the SDN List. The rate agreement was terminated as of May 2, 2013. This hotel is staffed by employees of the third-party owner and operated pursuant to a management agreement between the owner and a Hilton affiliate. Under the rate agreement, which was entered into in the name of the owner, the hotel reserved a number of rooms for Mahan Air crew members at the DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur several times each week. Revenue and net profit received by Hilton attributable to Mahan Air crew hotel stays during the reporting period was approximately $430.”

After BXMT filed its Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2013, Travelport Limited, which may be considered an affiliate of Blackstone, and therefore an affiliate of BXMT, provided the disclosure reproduced below in connection with activities during the second fiscal quarter of 2013. We have not independently verified or participated in the preparation of this disclosure.

“As part of our global business in the travel industry, we provide certain passenger travel related GDS and airline IT Solutions services to Iran Air. We also provide certain airline IT Solutions services to Iran Air Tours. All of these services are either exempt from applicable sanctions prohibitions pursuant to a statutory exemption in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act permitting transactions ordinarily incident to travel or, to the extent not otherwise exempt, specifically licensed by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). Subject to any changes in the exempt/licensed status of such activities, we intend to continue these business activities, which are directly related to and promote the arrangement of travel for individuals.

Prior to and during the reporting period, we also provided airline IT Solutions services to Syrian Arab Airlines. These services were generally understood to be permissible under the same statutory travel exemption. The services were terminated following the May 2013 action by OFAC to designate this airline as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations.

The gross revenue and net profit attributable to these activities in the quarter ended June 30, 2013 were approximately $248,000 and $176,000, respectively.”