Marriott to become sole owner of luxurious boutique hotel company
Marriott International has made a formal request to acquire 100 percent ownership of boutique hotel company Design Hotels. Starwood Hotels snapped up a 72 percent stake in Design Hotels in 2011 and once Starwood was acquired by Marriott in 2016, that stake moved over to the Marriott also. Since then, Marriott has gained 95 percent ownership of Design Hotels and is now planning to acquire the remaining five percent. According to various news sources, Marriott hopes for the deal to conclude within three months from now, making a cash offer to the existing shareholders of Design Hotels.
A spokesperson for Marriott International explained, “Marriott now has 95 per cent ownership of Design Hotels shares, and German law permits a company owning 90 per cent or more to initiate a process to obtain the remaining shares. ”Design Hotels said the move would not change how the company does business. A spokesperson said, “As the merger squeeze-out is a corporate organisational development and we do not plan changes to the way we operate the business, there is no impact to the senior leadership team.”