Marriott International president and CEO Arne Sorenson said in a Linkedin post that Marriott has revised the agreement to merge with Starwood. Under the revised deal, signed with the Starwood Board of Directors, shareholders will receive 0.80 shares of Marriott stock plus $21.00 in cash for every share of Starwood common stock. This increases the total amount to be paid to a Starwood shareholder from $69.31 to $79.53 per share, based on the $73.16 closing price of Marriott stock on March 18, which represents a total value of $13.6 billion. This revised agreement offers superior value for Starwood’s shareholders, the ability to close quickly, and provides value creation potential that will allow both sets of shareholders to benefit from improved financial performance.
"We remain confident that, together, we can create value and stay competitive in a quickly-evolving marketplace. The combination of Marriott and Starwood will create a premier lodging company with 5,700 hotels and over 1.1 million rooms that will benefit guests, associates, owners, franchisees and shareholders," said Sorenson in his Linkedin post.
Pasted below are extracts from his Linkedin post:
In my previous LinkedIn posts about the merger, I talked about the business rationale for the merger and what it means for the people involved, including our associates, our guests and our communities. I now think it is important to reiterate the value of this transaction. Beyond the math, the strategic story behind this combination has not changed.
Since we announced the merger in November 2015, our integration teams have met on average multiple times a week across disciplines. As a result of our extensive due diligence and joint integration planning, we are now even more confident in the potential of cost savings of this transaction. We now expect to achieve $250 million in annual cost synergies within two years after closing, up from the $200 million estimated in November 2015 when we announced the original merger agreement.
Together, our enhanced loyalty programs will increase access to consumers in the lifestyle segment, open opportunities for new partnerships, and have greater effectiveness versus digital competition.
Our sales integration will result in our portfolio benefiting from exposure to Starwood’s brand-loyal, affluent consumers. Starwood’s portfolio will benefit from Marriott’s expertise in corporate, group and mid-market segments. This combination is also an opportunity to introduce key brands to underrepresented markets.
Finally, our strong free cash flow will reinforce the value of our asset-light business model.
With such meaningful cost efficiencies and new opportunities, we will be ideally positioned to offer guests unique experiences that will drive guest loyalty. This in turn drives higher revenue opportunities and the addition of new hotels to our combined system should drive greater preference for our brands with owners and franchisees.
Together, we will offer broader choices to our guests across the world and provide greater opportunities for our associates. With our scale, we will be able to better respond to technology disruptions. Starwood shareholders will also benefit from Marriott’s multi-year industry leading unit growth and consistent return of capital.
As I’ve said before, this combination brings together two of the most talented and experienced teams in the industry. Guests, associates, owners and franchisees can look forward to a combination that promotes innovative ideas and service commitment, along with unprecedented choice, value and access to 30 leading brands across more than 100 countries.
"We remain confident that, together, we can create value and stay competitive in a quickly-evolving marketplace. The combination of Marriott and Starwood will create a premier lodging company with 5,700 hotels and over 1.1 million rooms that will benefit guests, associates, owners, franchisees and shareholders," said Sorenson in his Linkedin post.
Pasted below are extracts from his Linkedin post:
In my previous LinkedIn posts about the merger, I talked about the business rationale for the merger and what it means for the people involved, including our associates, our guests and our communities. I now think it is important to reiterate the value of this transaction. Beyond the math, the strategic story behind this combination has not changed.
Since we announced the merger in November 2015, our integration teams have met on average multiple times a week across disciplines. As a result of our extensive due diligence and joint integration planning, we are now even more confident in the potential of cost savings of this transaction. We now expect to achieve $250 million in annual cost synergies within two years after closing, up from the $200 million estimated in November 2015 when we announced the original merger agreement.
Together, our enhanced loyalty programs will increase access to consumers in the lifestyle segment, open opportunities for new partnerships, and have greater effectiveness versus digital competition.
Our sales integration will result in our portfolio benefiting from exposure to Starwood’s brand-loyal, affluent consumers. Starwood’s portfolio will benefit from Marriott’s expertise in corporate, group and mid-market segments. This combination is also an opportunity to introduce key brands to underrepresented markets.
Finally, our strong free cash flow will reinforce the value of our asset-light business model.
With such meaningful cost efficiencies and new opportunities, we will be ideally positioned to offer guests unique experiences that will drive guest loyalty. This in turn drives higher revenue opportunities and the addition of new hotels to our combined system should drive greater preference for our brands with owners and franchisees.
Together, we will offer broader choices to our guests across the world and provide greater opportunities for our associates. With our scale, we will be able to better respond to technology disruptions. Starwood shareholders will also benefit from Marriott’s multi-year industry leading unit growth and consistent return of capital.
As I’ve said before, this combination brings together two of the most talented and experienced teams in the industry. Guests, associates, owners and franchisees can look forward to a combination that promotes innovative ideas and service commitment, along with unprecedented choice, value and access to 30 leading brands across more than 100 countries.
