Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is exploring a sale and has reached out to several potential bidders, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The source, which requested anonymity because details of the sale process are confidential, told Reuters this week that the company reached out to InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, Wyndham Worldwide Corp., and sovereign wealth funds.
The Financial Times added that last April, Starwood appointed Lazard to explore a "full range" of strategic and financial options. This indirectly puts the company up for sale.
Reuters adds that potential bidders were already being called about the sale by Starwood's advisors since early June.
The Financial Times also reported that a source told them that Starwood and InterContinental are in the early stages of a discussion of a possible union.
The union would result in the largest hotel group in the world.
The source told the Financial Times that talks are still very tentative as Starwood could still change its course or talk to a different partner.
Bloomberg adds that the merger, if it pushes through, would result in a hotel operator having over one million rooms in 100 countries.
InterContinental operates 722,600 rooms while Starwood operates 358,400 rooms.
"It doesn't seem like you're creating a lot of redundancies with the brands, which is good," Patrick Scholes, an analyst in Suntrust Robinson Humphrey, told Bloomberg.
Richard Solomons, CEO of InterContinental, declined to comment on the matter during a Television interview with Bloomberg.
"We never comment on speculation, and if somebody makes an offer, we're a British company, and we'd consider it," he said.
Bloomberg adds that Margot Happer, a spokesperson from Wyndham, also declined to comment on market rumors and potential mergers and acquisitions.
Starwood also mentions that they plan to spin off their vacation ownership business into a publicly traded business called Vistana Signature Experiences, according to Reuters.
