Marriott wins Starwood with highest bid

PanARMENIAN.Net - Marriott won over Starwood with a sweetened bid worth more than $14.4 billion just days after a Chinese insurance company appeared to steal it away from the hotel chain with a more lucrative offer, the Associated Press reports.

The revised deal would give Starwood shareholders $21 in cash and 0.80 shares of Marriott International Inc. Class A stock for each Starwood share. Starwood shareholders are also expected to get Interval Leisure Group stock valued at $5.83 per share. Taken together, that would value Starwood stock at $85.36 per share, or about $14.41 billion.

Just days ago, China's Anbang put up an offer of $83.83 for each Starwood share, or approximately $14.15 billion.

Starwood stockholders would have received $78 in cash for each share they own plus $5.67 in stock for a spinoff of a vacation business, AP says.

Marriott said Monday, March 21 that it is confident that it can achieve $250 million in annual cost savings within two years of closing on the Starwood transaction. That's $50 million more than in estimated in November, when it gave its initial offer to Starwood.

Marriott and Starwood still anticipate the deal closing around midyear, assuming it receives the necessary approvals, according to AP.

Shares of Starwood gained $2.43, or 3 percent, to $83 before the market open, while Marriott's stock shed 97 cents to $72.19.