Marriott International has agreed a deal worth £8 billion to buy Starwood Hotels.
Together the two hotel companies, which boast more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms, will create the world’s biggest hotel chain.
The deal, which has been ‘unanimously agreed’ by the two boards, will see the new company overtake the UK’s Intercontinental Hotels with just under 5,000 hotels.
Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson, who will head the new group, said the two firms hoped to become ‘the world’s favourite travel company’, reports the BBC.
Marriott will pay $11.9bn in stock and the rest, amounting to $12.2bn, in cash, with the acquisition completed by mid-2016.
