NEW YORK— Six Continents PLC has officially demerged its lodging and pubs business, allowing the creation today of two separately listed companies, InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) and Mitchells & Butlers plc (MAB), which began trading shares this morning on the London Stock Exchange. According toDow Jones Business, trading in the American depositary shares of IHG and MAB is expected to begin on the New York Stock Exchange today as well, with IHG succeeding to 6C’s registration under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act. According to a report out of the U.K. from the Times, the debut of the shares were met with a cool reaction from investors. Shares in MAB, formed from 6C’s 2,100 pubs portfolio, eased 3p to 221p in their first afternoon of trading on the London Stock Exchange, it noted, while stock in IHG, which includes the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands, slid 25p, or 6%, to 375p. The drops came despite continued speculation that both entities could yet be takeover targets, despite the failure of British entrepreneur Hugh Osmond earlier this year to win shareholder support for a £5.6 billion (US$8.91 billion) hostile bid via Capital Management and Investment (CMI) before the demerger. Some reports indicate Osmond is still interested in acquiring MAB. As previously reported by HOTEL BUSINESS®, Six Continents’ shareholders in March voted approval of the company’s proposed demerger of its lodging and pubs business, yanking the rug out from under Osmond, the founder of pubs group Punch Taverns and ex-owner of PizzaExpress. Osmond had offered 36 shares for each 6C share or on a different tact, £1.4 billion (US$2.25 billion) in cash and fewer shares. The bid bust reportedly cost Osmond more than £8 million (US$12.9 million). With the demerger, current shareholders get 50 IHG shares and 50 MAB shares for every 59 Six Continents shares they hold, plus 81 pence per share in cash. Six Continents is slated to return $1.1 billion (£700 million) of capital to shareholders by April 23.— Stefani C. O’Connor
