Wichita ? Two companies have agreed to buy Candlewood Hotel Co., one of the largest public companies based in Wichita, for $105 million.

The nationwide extended-stay hotel chain, which has lost money for 11-straight quarters, fell victim to the long downturn in business travel.

“We’ve been struggling for two years — I get the numbers every morning,” said Jack DeBoer, Candlewood Hotel Co.’s founder, chairman and chief executive. “People kept saying that this is turning around. But it hasn’t.”

The last 12 company-owned hotels will go to Hospitality Properties Group of Newton, Mass., for $90 million. They will continue under the name Candlewood Suites.

The heart of the company — its name and the corporate operations — is being sold to InterContinental Hotels Group of London for $15 million.

DeBoer already had sold 64 of the chain’s hotel buildings to InterContinental during the past two years to raise cash. Other Candlewood units are owned with partners, managed for other owners or owned by franchisees.

DeBoer will retain control of downtown Wichita’s Hotel at Old Town.

After six months of struggling to figure out how to save the company, DeBoer said he decided that the best he could hope for was to avoid a crash. The sale took about two months to put together.

The company’s suppliers will be paid, and most employees will keep their jobs, he said. Candlewood will use proceeds of the sale to pay $66 million in debt.

All 1,500 employees in the chain’s hotels will stay on. The 70 employees in the Wichita corporate offices — executives, salesmen, accountants, trainers, office staff — have a less certain future.

Steve Porter, president of the Americas for InterContinental, said some may be offered jobs in the company.

“We already have a big company, but we see in Jack’s group some tremendous people,” Porter said. “It’s still a little early to make those decisions.”

Gerard Petrick, an analyst with Legg Mason Wood Walker, said Candlewood was well managed but did not have enough capital to survive the downturn as well as companies such as Hilton and Marriott.

Profits at U.S. hotels dropped from a record $22.5 billion in 2000 to $16.1 billion in 2002, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

The sale of Candlewood follows the sale and departure of such other large Wichita-born companies as Pizza Hut, Rent-A-Center and Brite Voice Systems. The loss of such companies not only costs high-paying jobs and executive talent, but it dampens community pride.

“If we lose a company headquarters, that’s unfortunate,” said Sheryl Wohlford, chairwoman of the Wichita Area Chamber of Commerce. “Economic events have taken a toll, and Wichita has had more than our share.”