Marriott International clinched a new agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts yesterday, making a last-minute comeback to edge out a rival bid from China’s Anbang in the fiercest bidding war dealmakers have seen in recent history.
The final terms of the offer were hammered out in Havana, while the two US companies’ chief executives were accompanying President Barack Obama on his historic visit to Cuba. Starwood signed an agreement to manage three prominent hotels in the Cuban capital, marking the first time in nearly 60 years that a US hospitality company has been allowed to operate in the country.
Starwood said yesterday that it had accepted Marriott’s sweetened cash-and-stock offer of $79.53 per share, valuing the company at about $13.6bn. The move overrides one that Starwood agreed on Friday with Anbang, which had made an all-cash bid of $13.2bn for the owner of brands including Sheraton, St Regis and W Hotels.