Competition between Marriott International and Chinese Anbang Insurance

China’s Anbang Insurance plans to acquire Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, for $76 a share in cash, or $13.2 billion in total. This decision undoubtedly provides a competitive bid against Marriott International, which announced $12.2 billion as their proposed deal for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. Joan Eisenstodt, owner of Eisenstodt & Associates in Washington DC and expert in the hospitality industry commented on the battle between the acquisitive Chinese newcomer and the long established U.S Company:  “It’s going to be very interesting to see what the shareholders decide—do they take the big money from the Chinese or take the long-term return with Marriott?”

On October 6th 2014, the Chinese investor Anbang Insurance Group snapped up the famous luxury hotel Waldorf Astoria in New York for nearly 2 billion dollar. That was just the beginning for Anbang entering the U.S. hotel market. The deal for Starwood was public just hours after Anbang agreed to acquire Strategic Hotels from the Blackstone Group. The acquisition will push Anbang Insurance to the ownership of 17 notable hotels in the United States, including the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego; several Ritz-Carltons in California; the Fairmont Scottsdale in Arizona; the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole; the Fairmont and Intercontinental hotels in Chicago; and the JW Marriott Essex House in Manhattan.

Anbang’s play for Starwood hasn’t reached its conclusion yet —Marriott International could fight back with a higher bid or the US government could interfere. Shareholders of Starwood and Marriott are scheduled to discuss whether to approve their merger on the 28th of March . If the merger goes through, the two hotel operators together would present the new world’s largest hotel company, with more than 5,500 owned or franchised hotels and 1.1 million rooms – and Anbang will have to go shopping for hotel chains somewhere else.

Source: Travel Market Report, The New York Times, CNN Money

Photo: flickr