NH Hoteles said its Grande Jolly unit will not increase its bid for Jolly Hotels. 'It's the most generous offer made in Italy in the last two years,' NH Hoteles' ceo Gabriele Burgio is quoted as saying in Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Burgio was responding to market rumours that the value of the Italian hotel company was higher than the offer made by Grande Jolly. The NH unit already owns 75% of Jolly Hotels' capital and in February it launched an offer for the remaining 25% of the hotel chain. Grande Jolly offered EUR 127.6 mln, or EUR 25 per share for the remaining shares. UK asset manager Schroder holds 10% of these shares.
NH Hoteles said its Grande Jolly unit will not increase its bid for Jolly Hotels. 'It's the most generous offer made in Italy in the last two years,' NH Hoteles' ceo Gabriele Burgio is quoted as saying in Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Burgio was responding to market rumours that the value of the Italian hotel company was higher than the offer made by Grande Jolly. The NH unit already owns 75% of Jolly Hotels' capital and in February it launched an offer for the remaining 25% of the hotel chain. Grande Jolly offered EUR 127.6 mln, or EUR 25 per share for the remaining shares. UK asset manager Schroder holds 10% of these shares.
NH Hoteles is planning to merge the Italian chain with another non-listed NH subsidiary. 'We are still at an early stage, but we would like to move in this direction and a possible solution could be to merge Jolly Hotels with NH Italia or with Grande Jolly,' Burgio said. NH Hoteles currently operates 269 hotels in 19 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa, and has another 25 new projects in the pipeline.
