安邦放棄收購喜達屋 競購大戰結束

The bidding war for Starwood Hotels and Resorts has ended suddenly — and strangely.

喜達屋酒店及度假村國際集團(Starwood Hotels and Resorts)併購戰突然莫名其妙地終結了。

The current high bidder for the hotel chain, a consortium led by the Anbang Insurance Group of China, withdrew its $14 billion offer on Thursday.

目前，此家連鎖酒店的最高出價者，由中國安邦保險領銜的財團在週四正式撤回了價值140億美元的收購方案。

In a statement on Thursday, the consortium said: “We were attracted to the opportunity presented by Starwood because of its high-quality, leading global hotel brands, which met many of our acquisition criteria, including the ability to generate consistent, long-term returns over time. However, due to various market considerations, the consortium has determined not to proceed further.”

財團在週四的一份聲明中稱：“我們被喜達屋酒店的高質量以及全球領先的酒店品牌所吸引，這符合我們的收購標準，包括其產生持續、長期回報的能力。但是，出於多重的市場因素考量，財團決定不再繼續該筆收購。”

The statement did not identify what the market considerations were.

此份聲明並未指出究竟是哪些市場因素。

The withdrawal leaves Marriott International as the winner with its current $13.25 billion offer.

安邦的放棄使萬豪國際(Marriott International)以當前價值132.5億美元的收購方案成爲此場收購戰的勝者。

A combination of Marriott and Starwood, the operator of the Westin and Sheraton chains, would create the biggest hotel company in the world, with more than 5,500 owned or franchised hotels and 1.1 million rooms.

喜達屋經營着連鎖酒店品牌威斯汀(Westin)和喜來登(Sheraton)，萬豪國際與喜達屋的合併將會成爲全球最大的酒店集團，旗下將擁有逾5500家直營或特許經營酒店和110萬個房間。

Even though Anbang had offered more money — its second bid was $82.75 a share in cash, as opposed to Marriott’s most recent offer of $77.94 in cash and stock, as of Thursday’s prices — investors and analysts had raised questions about whether the Chinese-led consortium could actually close on its offer.

儘管安邦出了更多高的價錢，但投資者和分析人士始終質疑這個由中國牽頭的財團能否真實兌現其併購方案。依據週四的收盤價格，安邦以每股作價82.75美元的現金收購方案以反擊萬豪提出的每股作價77.94美元的現金加股票的收購方案。

The abrupt withdrawal of the offer raised new questions, including whether the Chinese government, which has close ties with Anbang, had blocked the proposed transaction, or whether the insurer and its allies had run into issues with the financing for the deal.

突然撤回收購要約的行爲引發新的疑問，其中包括，與安邦關係密切的中國政府是否阻止了此項擬議交易？安邦保險和它的聯合投標人是否在此項交易的融資方面遇到問題？

The Anbang consortium included J. Christopher Flowers’ buyout firm, J. C. Flowers & Company, and the Primavera Capital Group, whose chairman, Fred Hu, is the former chairman of Goldman Sachs for China.

由安邦保險領銜的財團中包括了美國私募股權公司ers以及由前高盛（亞洲）(Goldman Sachs for Asia)董事長鬍祖六所領導的春華資本集團(Primavera Capital Group)。

Anbang had initially sought to break up Starwood’s first deal with Marriott by offering $78 a share, a proposal that was fully documented.

安邦起初曾試圖以每股78美元的報價破壞喜達屋與萬豪的初始交易，並且收購方案資料完備。

The second bid by the Chinese insurer, by contrast, had several open questions. In a statement saying that Anbang’s second bid was “reasonably likely to lead to a ‘superior proposal,’” Starwood noted that the newer offer was nonbinding and that the two sides needed to hammer out “nonprice terms.”

相比之下，安邦保險提出的第二份收購方案卻有些尚未解決的問題。喜達屋董事會在一份聲明中稱，安邦提出的第二份收購方案“有可能會產生一份‘更優方案’”，但因最新方案是非約束性的，因而雙方仍需敲定一些“非價格條款”。