Anbang Withdrws Offer For Starwood, Clearing Marriott Path

(RTTNews) - Marriott International, Inc. (MAR) and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (HOT) encouraged shareholders of both companies to vote in support of the proposed merger. Both companies note that their renewed request for shareholder support follows Starwood's announcement that a consortium of potential investors, led by Anbang Insurance Group, has withdrawn its alternative proposal to acquire Starwood.

Marriott and Starwood will host their respective shareholder meetings on April 8, 2016 at 10:00 AM eastern time.

Under the terms of the amended merger agreement, as announced on March 21, 2016, Starwood shareholders will receive $21.00 in cash and 0.80 shares of Marriott Class A common stock for each share of Starwood common stock. Excluding Starwood's timeshare business, the transaction values Starwood at approximately $13.3 billion ($77.94 per share), consisting of $9.7 billion of Marriott stock, based on the closing price of $71.18 on March 31, 2016, and $3.6 billion of cash, based on approximately 170 million outstanding Starwood shares.

Starwood shareholders will own approximately 34 percent of the combined company's common stock after completion of the merger, based on current shares outstanding.

Starwood stockholders will separately receive consideration in the form of Interval Leisure Group (IILG) common stock from the spin-off of the Starwood timeshare business and subsequent merger with ILG, currently valued at $6.13 per Starwood share, based on ILG's share price as of market close on March 31, 2016. The amended agreement and the ILG transaction have a combined current value of $84.07 per share of Starwood common stock.