The Chinese insurance company Anbang Group has offered to acquire Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide for $78 per share in cash, or the equivalent of $13.3 billion. Last November 17, Starwood had agreed to merge with Marriott International through a stock-and-cash deal valued at $13.06 billion as of Thursday’s close. That merger would have created the world’s largest hotel company.
The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets report that Starwood intends to set aside its deal with Marriott, which has until March 28 to revise its offer. If it ultimately accepts Anbang’s bid, Starwood would have to pay Marriott a $400 million termination fee. The Real Deal, which covers New York real estate, reports today that Starwood had accepted Anbang’s takeover offer
Anbang, based in Beijing, made headlines two years ago when it paid about $2 billion to acquire New York City’s landmark Waldorf Astoria hotel. Days before it upped its bid for Starwood from $76 per share, Anbang agreed to purchase the 16- property Strategic Hotels & Resorts from Blackstone Group for $6.5 billion including debt.
Time magazine’s Rana Foroohar notes that Anbang’s buying spree comes at a time when investors have been fleeing China’s slowing economy. About $1 trillion in capital left China last year, and “one way it’s going out the door is via acquisitions of foreign firms,” Foroohar writes. Dealogic estimates that Chinese firms spent $106 billion on overseas acquisitions in 2015, and nearly that much so far this year.
Anbang’s well-connected owner, Wu Xiaohui, is married to the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, the Communist leader who put China on a path toward a more market-driven economy. Anbang’s largest shareholders are state-owned companies such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Group Corp and the oil giant Sinopec Group, according to Fortune magazine.
The Real Deal estimates that Anbang’s offers for Strategic and Starwood are roughly equal to the total volume of Chinese investment in U.S. commercial real estate from 2007 to 2015.
Related Stories
Hotel Facilities | Apr 11, 2017
What can hotels learn from Airbnb?
This new kid on the hospitality block is actually an extension of a long-standing tradition of lodging alternatives that range from renting villas in Italy to choosing timeshare properties in Florida.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Mar 30, 2017
Waldorf Astoria New York to undergo massive renovation
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Pierre-Yves Rochon prepared the designs for what will be one of the most complex and intensive landmark preservation efforts in New York City history.
Hotel Facilities | Mar 14, 2017
Hotels are becoming the favored places for retailers and consumer products to bolster their brands
Several high-profile names have launched hospitality divisions, often with well-established management partners.
Hotel Facilities | Mar 9, 2017
Robots. 70’s Retro. Biophilia. Co-Living Spaces. Two leading architectural firms single out 18 trends for hospitality this year.
HKS and HBA even see a demand for hotels catering to “agritourism.”
Mixed-Use | Mar 1, 2017
New hotel and residential tower coming to San Francisco’s Transbay neighborhood
The ground-up development will feature 255 hotel rooms and 69 residential units.
Hotel Facilities | Feb 20, 2017
The future of hotel design: Human-centered
Change is inevitable and it impacts on everything, not least on the way we design.
Market Data | Feb 16, 2017
How does your hospital stack up? Grumman/Butkus Associates 2016 Hospital Benchmarking Survey
Report examines electricity, fossil fuel, water/sewer, and carbon footprint.
Hotel Facilities | Feb 15, 2017
Morphosis redesigns Swiss hotel rooms as custom ‘aesthetic experiences’
The redesigned rooms focused on scale, color, tactility, unexpected form, and connections to the natural context.
Hotel Facilities | Jan 30, 2017
New renderings of the 1966 Century Plaza Hotel’s redevelopment
The redevelopment project got underway last summer and is expected to be completed in 2018.
Hotel Facilities | Jan 25, 2017
New Denver hotel will integrate historic 130-year-old fire station into its design
The 1883 Denver Hose Company No.1 building will be fully restored as part of the project.
