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+--- Thread: THE BIDDING WAR (/thread-921.html)
THE BIDDING WAR - TEAM HARLFORUM - 07-27-2016
The recent bidding war between Marriott International (MI) and a consortium led by Chinese insurance firm Anbang Insurance Group Co. (Anbang) for the rare opportunity to acquire a major international hotel company, namely Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (HOT) is like déjà vu all over again. During 1997, Barry Sternlicht, chief executive of Starwood Lodging Trust (HOT’s predecessor) and Stephen Bollenbach, who led Hilton Hotels Corp. (Hilton), were engaged in a tenacious nine month bidding war to purchase ITT Corporation (ITT), which then owned well-known hotel brands including: Sheraton, Westin, CIGA, Four Points, Luxury Collection and Caesars. At the time HOT agreed to procure ITT for US$14.6 billion, it was a rapidly growing hotel company that one month earlier contracted to purchase Westin Hotel Co. for US$1.8 billion.
For those following the recent drama, recall the original MI deal was first announced amid much fanfare in November 2015. In my blog shortly thereafter, I questioned the certainty of the transaction to in fact be a done deal. At the time, numerous public markets analysts suggested that Marriott's US$12.2 billion offer price was not as high as investors expected. While the deal reportedly included “no shop” clauses, the notion of a competing offer for a higher price was not far-fetched.