Starwood Hotels & Resorts is abandoning a proposed merger with Marriott in favor of a $13.2B takeover bid by China’s Anbang Insurance Group, which Starwood deemed a “superior proposal.”
The new bid is $2/share higher than Marriott’s $12.2B proposal, a deal that would’ve created the largest hotel chain in the world(5,500 hotels and 1.1 million rooms total). Marriott has until March 28 to propose a counter-offer and win back their stolen partner, CoStar reports.
Anbang has cooked up a hot streak of hotel trophy buys recently, buying NYC’s iconic Waldorf Astoria for $1.95B and following up with a $6.5B purchase of Strategic Hotels—both from Blackstone. The company’s moves come as Chinese purchases in the US are setting a record pace in 2016—already nearing their 2015 total. [CoStar]
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