Starwood receives multibillion dollar buyout bid from Chinese group

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has received a 12.8-billion-U.S. dollar buyout bid from a consortium led by China's Anbang Insurance Group, said the hotel chain on Monday.

Starwood said it received a nonbinding proposal Thursday from a consortium of companies to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Starwood.

The Chinese-led investor group including Anbang, Primavera Capital and J.C. Flowers would pay 76 dollars per share in cash, people familiar with the deal told Xinhua.

The bid topped Marriott's 63.74-dollar-per-share cash-and-stock offer that Starwood accepted last November.

Starwood entered into a definitive acquisition agreement with Marriott International Inc. last November. Marriott's cash-and-stock offer is worth about 11 billion dollars, according to Friday's closing price.

Starwood is one of the leading luxury hotel chains and the owner of the Westin and Sheraton brands, with nearly 1,300 properties in some 100 countries and approximately 188,000 employees.

As one of the largest insurance groups in China, Anbang has total assets of 1.65 trillion yuan (254 billion dollars) with over 3,000 branches in 31 Chinese provinces.

The company is reportedly close to a deal to buy the Chicago-based Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. for around 6.5 billion dollars from Blackstone. Strategic is the preeminent owner and asset manager of a number of top luxury hotels and resorts.

The Chinese insurer has made headlines with the acquisition of Waldorf Astoria, the landmark hotel on Park Avenue in the Big Apple in Oct 2014.Anbang purchased the iconic luxury hotel for 1.95 billion dollars from Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. Endi