$12B Takeover: Three Chinese Firms Eye Starwood Hotels
Three Chinese firms have their eye on the hospitality monster Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in what would be the largest takeover of a US company by a Chinese firm.
"Starwood has some pretty powerful brands. It’s an attractive platform, especially if you don’t already own a platform with that kind of cachet," Green Street Advisors analyst Lukas Hartwich says.
The three firms, Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels, HNA, and China Investment Corp., a sovereign wealth fund, are in talks with the Chinese government over who will give the massive bid to avoid a bidding war.
The price for Starwood, which owns over 1,200 properties worldwide, is unclear, but it'll likely exceed its start-of-Tuesday valuation of $12B.
After the news hit Tuesday, Starwood's stock price jumped 9.1%, bringing it to $74.81, its highest since 2009. This potential deal is just the latest in a series of blockbuster hotel acquisitions by Chinese firms. [WSJ]
