The owners of Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Thayer Lodging Group and Shanghai Jin Jiang, have reportedly hired an investment bank to consider selling the company, according to a Wall Street Journal story.
The U.S.-Chinese joint venture acquired the company in 2010 for a deal valued at US$307 million. Sources said a sale today could fetch more than US$600 million.
Investment bank Moelis & Co. has been hired to field offers for the the Arlington, Virginia-based company, which manages some 460 hotels with 81,000 rooms, making it the largest third-party manager in the world.
Jin Jiang was in the news late last week, reportedly in talks to merge with another Chinese hotel company, Plateno. Sources have told HOTELS that the two companies are in the midst of the due-diligence process, which should take about three months. If a deal is struck, rumors have swirled that the new joint venture would then set its sights on Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.