Marriott-Starwood merger back on as Anbang drops $14bn offer

Anbang Insurance Group dropped its $14bn​ bid on Thursday afternoon, just weeks after emerging to challenge Marriott in one of the biggest merger battles of 2016.

It comes after the century-old hotel giant questioned the Chinese group’s finances and warned that the firm would be unable to close the deal.

The Anbang-led consortium – which boasts ties to the Chinese government – blamed its withdrawal on ‘various market considerations’.

Marriott is standing by its $13.6bn offer, which it raised from its initial $12.2bn bid in a challenge to the Chinese group.

Starwood said in a statement that it looked forward to combining with Marriott.

“Throughout this process, we have been focused on maximizing stockholder value now and in the future,” said Starwood’s chairman Bruce Duncan.

“Our board is confident this transaction offers superior value for Starwood’s stockholders, can close quickly and provides value-creation potential that will enable both sets of stockholders to benefit from future financial performance.”

Marriott and Starwood’s shareholders will vote on whether to go ahead with the deal on 8 April.

The merger is set to create the world’s largest hotel company,​ with a total of 1.1m rooms across over 5,500 sites.