Starwood Hotels dumps Marriott for raised Chinese bid

Starwood Hotels said Friday that it favors a takeover bid from a consortium led by China's Anbang Insurance over an earlier deal with Marriott, after the Anbang group increased its offer.

Starwood's board was persuaded by Anbang's $2 increase in its Monday offer to $78 a share, and said it plans to notify Marriott International that their already agreed merger was off.

Starwood had agreed to Marriott's $63.74 per share cash-and-stock offer last November for its network of 1,270 properties in 100 countries, including the Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien and W brands.

But the Chinese giant stepped in the way this week as it announced nearly $20 billion in two proposed hotel takeover deals.

The Anbang proposal values Starwood at $13.2 billion and comes as the Chinese giant has also agreed to buy a portfolio of 16 luxury hotel and resort properties from the Blackstone group for $6.5 billion.

With the new Anbang offer, Starwood's board said in a statement that it "intends to terminate the Marriott merger agreement and enter into a definitive agreement with the consortium."

The news pushed Starwood shares up 4.5 percent to $79.91 in early trade. Shares of Marriott, which will earn a $400 million fee for Starwood cancelling their deal, rose 2.0 percent to $73.23. Anbang is privately controlled.

Anbang's partners in the deal include China-based Primavera Capital and US private equity investor JC Flowers & Co.

Anbang first pushed into the US hospitality industry in October 2014 by acquiring the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan for nearly $2 billion from Hilton Worldwide Holdings.

The purchases are part of an aggressive international push by the 12-year-old insurer, which reports assets of 1.65 trillion yuan ($254 billion), more than 3,000 branches in China and over 30,000 employees globally.

In November, Anbang bought US insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life for $1.6 billion, after snapping up Korean insurer Tong Yang Life for around $950 million and Dutch insurer Vivat for about $167 million earlier in the year.