Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman (Getty)
Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital Group are once again trying to woo Extended Stay America’s shareholders.
The two firms announced Tuesday that they would increase their offer to buy the hotel operator to $20.50 per share, Bloomberg News reported.
In March, they agreed to buy the company at $19.50 per share. But some of Extended Stay’s shareholders have voiced opposition to the deal, questioning the timing, how the sale proceeded — one group, Tarsadia Capital, says the bidding process did not allow for higher offers — and the price itself.
“A $1 bump in price is a small Band-Aid that cannot cure a fatally flawed process,” Tarsadia said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “The updated offer announced today, representing just a 5 percent increase over the previous price, is nothing more than an attempt to jam through a transaction that still significantly undervalues the company.”
Another investor, Philip Cook of SouthernSun, told the publication that his firm “believe[s] this transaction and the process undertaken by the board represents one of the more egregious examples of poor corporate governance.”
Still, analysts told the outlet that they expect the higher price will get the deal done. The amended offering from Blackstone and Starwood is a 21 percent premium over Extended Stay’s share price on the day that the original offer was made, according to the publication.
At the end of trading on Tuesday, Extended Stay’s stock price hit $19.76 for a market value of $3.5 billion.
[Bloomberg News] — Sasha Jones
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