Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Wyndham Worldwide Corp., the franchiser of Ramada and Super 8 hotels, said it would cut 4,000 jobs as it restructures its time-share unit after the asset-backed securities market for loans evaporated.

Wyndham, the world’s largest seller of time-share vacation apartments, will cut 40 percent of the unit’s sales next year, to about $1.2 billion from $2 billion in 2008. The company will halt some construction and shed about 13 percent of its workforce by eliminating some sales offices and marketing programs, Parsippany, New Jersey-based Wyndham said today in a regulatory filing.

Wyndham and other time-share sellers often lend customers the money to buy their vacation ownerships, and “for decades” have sold the loans into the market as securities backed by the receivable payments. A global credit freeze triggered by U.S. residential property defaults has eliminated investor demand for all types of asset-backed securities, forcing companies to tighten criteria and provide more limited financing.

“Our businesses are very strong but we can’t fight the fact that the securitized asset-backed market does not exist right now,” Chief Executive Officer Stephen P. Holmes said today in a phone interview. “That is a very healthy sales pace, it’s just not at the rampant pace we were at before. Until the market becomes more fluid we’ll keep our sales at this lower pace.”

Wyndham now expects 2009 revenue of $4.1 billion at most, compared with its Oct. 30 forecast of $4.1 billion to $4.5 billion, it said in a statement.

Restructuring Charges

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization may be $790 million to $840 million, compared with a previous range of $830 million to $890 million, because of the timeshare restructure and “current economic conditions.”

The time-share changes will cost $50 million to $60 million in the fourth quarter and another $10 million to $15 million in the first quarter of 2009, Wyndham said.

Postponing planned construction, mostly additional towers at existing developments, will save Wyndham about $200 million in building costs in 2009, Holmes said in the interview. The company is not discounting any time-share product and is continuing with scheduled price increases, he said.

“The Treasury has tried to address it with this most recent TARP that they passed to try to loosen up those markets,” Holmes said, referring to the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. “But nothing that they’ve done to this point has really frankly had that large of an impact, particularly on the securitized market,” he said. “We’re just not sure when the market is going to open up.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 8, 2008 19:27 EST