https://skift.com/2016/03/25/the-ins..._hsmi=27723692
The Inside Story of Anbang’s Long Pursuit to Acquire Starwood
This Is Definitely Not the End
If anything, the new filing from Starwood-Marriott shows there’s still a chance Anbang could potentially come back with a better offer and take Starwood.
Why is that? For one, Anbang originally offered Starwood about $14.65 billion in cash back in May and in November, it was willing to pay anywhere from $13.8 billion to $14.3 billion in cash for Starwood. Shortly after news broke on March 21 that Starwood had accepted Marriott’s new offer, analysts speculated that Anbang could come back to Starwood offering as much as $85 per share and, as far back as November 2015, Anbang was willing to offer up to $86. In short, it has the cold hard cash to win in the end, if it so chooses.
Secondly, the fact that Anbang was willing to pay up to half of the original $400 million breakup fee demonstrates its further commitment to acquiring Starwood. That Starwood negotiated with Marriott to bring the new breakup fee down from a whopping $600 million to $450 million, plus $18 million in expenses, could be interpreted as Starwood leaving the door open for Anbang to come back with a bigger, better offer, too. Marriott, seeing the looming threat of another bid from Anbang, probably hoped it could keep the new breakup fee at $600 million, but it was willing to settle for $468 million instead.