Starwood Hotels & Resorts has received a $12.84 billion buyout offer from a consortium led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group, threatening to derail its planned takeover by Marriott International. The consortium made the unsolicited offer on March 10 to acquire Starwood for $76 per share in cash. This tops Marriott’s offer of $72.08 per share in stock and cash, which valued Starwood at $12.18 billion on Nov. 16. That offer is now worth about $11 billion as Marriott shares have dropped 6.5 percent since, according to Reuters. Marriott today reaffirmed its commitment to acquire Starwood, and said it will monitor this development as the two companies continue to work toward closing their transaction. Each company’s stockholders are scheduled to vote on the merger on March 28. If Starwood called off the deal with Marriott, it would be obligated to pay a $400 million termination fee. Beijing-based insurer Anbang is on a buying spree, having just agreed to purchase Strategic Hotels & Resorts from the Blackstone Group for $6.5 billion, only three months after Blackstone completed its acquisition the company. The deal eclipses Anbang’s $1.95 billion purchase last year of New York’s Waldorf Astoria as the biggest U.S. real estate deal by a Chinese buyer, Bloomberg reports. To read more, click here.
