Marriott tops Anbang offer for Starwood

How badly Anbang wants the Starwood Hotel chain will likely be known soon after bidding rival Marriott raised the cash portion of its offer.

Marriott International Inc on Monday increased its bid to $21 a share from $2, valuing its new stock-and-cash offer at about $79.53 a share, or $13.6 billion.

Last week, Starwood Hotels and Worldwide Resorts Inc accepted a $13.2 billion takeover offer from Beijing-based Anbang and gave Marriott until Friday to make a counteroffer.

Anbang and its partners - China-based Primavera Capital and private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co - had agreed to pay $78 a share in cash for the luxury resort chain.

A Wall Street Journal report said that Primavera and Flowers would provide equity financing for the Anbang bid, while lender China Construction Bank Corp would contribute the debt financing.

"I expect Anbang to respond, likely raising its bid," David Loeb, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co, said. Anbang made no public comment on the latest Marriott proposal for Starwood, which operates the Sheraton and Westin hotels.

"The current bid from Marriott is superior to Anbang's bid from last week. (Marriott's) stock is off a little, but even at the current share price, the nominal value is higher than Anbang's bid. Plus Starwood's board needs to look at the long-term value of what its shareholders will get," added Loeb.

Some of that long-term value includes obtaining more cost savings from a tie-up with Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott, which said in a statement that it "is confident it can achieve $250 million in annual cost synergies within two years, up from $200 million estimated in 2015, when Marriott made its first offer for Starwood".

Marriott shares fell 86 cents to $72.30 on Monday, while shares of Starwood rose $3.62 to $84.19.

Wes Golladay, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said last week that the Marriott offer has "the potential to create better synergies and more cost-cutting potential since they are already in the business".

A combined Marriott and Starwood would create the largest hotel chain in the world.

"We believe this is the best bid Marriott is willing to make," Canaccord Genuity analyst Ryan Meliker wrote in a research note, Reuters reported.

Anbang made a dramatic entry into the United States two years ago when it bought the famed Waldorf Astoria New York hotel for almost $2 billion. Days before it contested Marriott for control of Starwood, it offered $6.5 billion to acquire Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc, which owns several high-end properties, including the JW Marriott Essex House in New York and the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California.

Under the direction of Chairman Wu Xiaohui, Anbang has evolved from a mainland auto insurer into a major global financial services firm, amassing stakes in China Merchants Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and real estate concern Wanke.

Slowing growth at home and the desire to diversify overseas investments have spurred Chinese companies like Anbang to become aggressive acquirers.

Separately, Starwood will become the first American hotel company to sign a deal with Cuba since the 1959 revolution, announcing a multimillion-dollar investment as US President Barack Obama made a historic visit to the nation.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com