NH Hotel suitor Barcelo rules out increasing offer; has no plan B - report (translated)
04 JAN 2018
NH Hotel Group [BME:NHH] suitor Barcelo has no plans to raise its offer, Expansion said citing co-chairman Simon Pedro Barcelo. In an interview with the Spanish-language paper, Barcelo said that the company’s offer was the best option for both companies’ future and should be attractive to NH shareholders.
NH management board is due to announce on 10 January its opinion on the offer.
As reported, Barceló is proposing a merger with NH to create a giant with more than 600 hotels and 110,000 rooms. According to Barceló's estimates, its offer for NH was equivalent to EUR 7.08 per share, which would mean valuing the company at EUR 2.480bn. Barcelo proposes to control 60% of the merged company.
Barcelo points out that that the union of NH and Barceló would have EBITDA above EUR 700m and practically no debt. Barceló is optimistic about a favorable response from NH, although the executive acknowledged that since the offer was launched there have been no talks.
Barcelo has no plans for a market listing or other corporate transactions if its offer for NH fails, the executive added.