Osmond Looking Hostile In Bid For 6C

NEW YORK— The likelihood of a hostile takeover attempt of Six Continents PLC gained strength today, with such a move by British entrepreneur Hugh Osmond possibly coming as early as tomorrow. As previously reported by HOTELBUSINESS®, Osmond met briefly Tuesday night to discuss a bid plan with Tim Clarke, the current chief executive who will head the pubs division (Mitchells & Butlers), and Richard North, who will lead the hotels unit (InterContinental Hotels Group) when the demerger is finalized in April. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposed plan, which would also return £700 million (US$1.1 billion) to them at an extraordinary general meeting on March 12. Whether that plan remains in place remains to be seen, as Osmond appears intent on launching a £5.64 billion (US$8.91 billion) bid via Capital Management & Investment (CMI) for 6C, now with the added backing of HBOS Bank, according to theTelegraph. in London. Some £1 billion to £2 billion (US$1.57 billion to US$3.15 billion) of debt to fund the bid was already being arranged by his advisers, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers, according to reports. Six Continents maintained its plans to demerge its hotels and pubs business would remain the best deal for its shareholders, adding CMI on Tuesday was “not prepared to table a proposal,” and had provided only “sketchy details of a potential cash and shares bid,” according to theTelegraph. Toward that, 6C said it was not prepared to accede to Osmond’s requests to defer its shareholders meeting. Osmond reportedly said he was ready with a firm plan, “and if they cooperated we could put more money on the table. But theyre not interested. “They think they are the gatekeepers to this bid, but they dont own the company. They have no shares, they have no relevance,” Osmond said in the Telegraph. Osmond, the founder of pubs group Punch Taverns and ex-owner of PizzaExpress, is not considered to be to be the only suitor for Six Continents. Other potential bidders recently floated include Blackstone Group, CVC Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and have ranged as far as to include Hilton Group Plc, Cendant Corp. and Accor.— Stefani C. O’Connor