Fishy business

23 May 2003

Spanish M&A is hotting up again. This time it s in the hotel sector. But that s the only real difference. The bid for 26% of NH Hoteles looks as fishy as recent bids in Spain s utility and construction sectors.

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Unlisted Spanish hotel group Hesperia has launched a E259m cash bid for a 26.1% stake in NH Hoteles, Spain's largest hotel group by market capitalisation.

Catalan based Hesperia, which has 37 four and five star hotels in Spain, offered E8.30 per share – a 15% premium to NHH's closing price on Wednesday. NHH has 260 hotels, mostly in Spain and Europe, largely catering to business travellers.

Hesperia's bid is conditional on getting 15.06% of NHH's shares, which would make it NHH's largest single shareholder. The group said it did not plan to raise its stake in the future or merge with NHH. As with many Spanish firms, NHH shareholders cannot vote the full weight of their shares. NHH's current limit is 10%.

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