The price for Starwood Hotels continues to rocket higher, with the latest bid from China's Anbang and its partners crossing the USD 15 billion mark.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., whose properties include the St Regis New York, said Monday that the offer from the Anbang group is "reasonably likely" to be superior than the one made just last week by Marriott International.
The blitz by the Chinese insurer into the US real estate market has repeatedly knocked askew the ambitions of Marriott, which has been attempting to add Starwood's posh stable of hotels to its portfolio since last year.
Marriott bid USD 12.2 billion for the Greenwich, Connecticut, hotel in November and most had expected that Marriott would become the biggest hotel in the world when it completed the deal.
But few had realized the ambition, or motivation, of Anbang, even though it had made a big splash in the US real estate market just two years ago when it acquired the famed Waldorf Astoria of York for almost USD 2 billion.
That became a bit clearer earlier this month, even before it challenged Marriott for control of Starwood, when it laid down USD 6.5 billion to acquire Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., which owns several high-end properties including the JW Marriott Essex House in New York.
Industry analysts say this may be a fight Marriott can't win, or shouldn't, because Anbang is being driven by the desire to get its money out of China and into US assets.
The newest offer is from Anbang is for USD 88.66 per Starwood share, or USD 15.03 billion. That tops the latest bid of USD 14.41 billion that Marriott International Inc. Offered last week.
Anbang's offer includes USD 82.75 per share in cash, which is an increase of USD 4.75 per share from its previous bid.
The bid also includes USD 5.91 in stock for a spinoff of a vacation business. Whoever gains control of Starwood will likely be entering Cuba, as well.
Starwood this month became the first US hotel operator to gain access to Cuba during the first visit by a sitting US president in almost 90 years.
Starwood said today that its board has not changed its recommendation in support of a deal with Marriott.
