LUXURY hotel group Orient-Express has rebuffed a takeover bid from Tata’s Indian Hotels company for the second time, calling the $1.2bn (£750m) offer placed last month “deeply unattractive”.
Bermuda-based Orient had earlier fought off an offer for a takeover by Tata in 2007, in a high-profile skirmish.
In a letter addressed to Indian Hotels, details of which were posted on Orient-Express’s website on Friday (November 9), its chairman J. Robert Lovejoy said that “the proposal significantly undervalued Orient-Express and its future prospects”.
“Now would be a highly disadvantageous time to sell the company. We have unanimously determined that it is not in the best interests of Orient-Express and its shareholders to pursue your proposal,” Lovejoy said in the letter written to Indian Hotel’s vice-chairman RK Krishna Kumar.
A Tata official was not immediately available for comment.
Orient-Express said it was “well positioned to deliver substantial value to its shareholders in 2013 and the coming years” adding that “it has a bright future as an independent company”.
Orient-Express, which is based in Hamilton, Bermuda, owns or part-owns 49 properties including 40 deluxe hotels and also offers high-end train and cruise travel, according to its website.
Indian Hotels, which owns the iconic seafront Taj Mahal Palace in the financial hub Mumbai that was targeted by Islamist extremists in a 2008 attack in which 166 people died, said it had already acquired a 6.9-per cent stake in Orient-Express.
While placing the $12.63-per-share unsolicited bid last month, Indian Hotels said it wished to buy the remaining 93.1 per cent in an all-cash offer.
Indian Hotels said that combining with Orient-Express would be “strategically compelling opportunity” for both companies and for shareholders.
