Tata Group’s offer to buy out Orient-Express Hotels could be complicated if Orient-Express moves ahead with picking a new CEO.
Financial Times reported on Thursday that according to people familiar with the situation, Orient-Express Hotels, Hamilton, Bermuda, is set to announce a new CEO to replace interim CEO Philip Mengel next week.
In the meantime Orient-Express hired Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs to advise it on last week’s unsolicited US$1.86 billion bid from Tata subsidiary Indian Hotels Co., Mumbai, India.
Indian Hotels Co. requested a meeting this week with Mengel and the Orient-Express board of directors to discuss the offer and to sweeten the deal, Indian Hotels Co. also communicated that post-buyout Orient-Express would remain a separate and independent company with standalone management and board of directors.
“We want to reiterate that Orient−Express Hotels will remain a separate and independent company with standalone management and board of directors, as has been the policy and practice throughout the Tata Group, including in our major acquisitions such as Jaguar/Land Rover and Corus,” R.K. Krishna Kumar, vice chairman of Indian Hotels Co., wrote in a letter to Orient-Express Hotels CEO Philip Mengel that was filed with the SEC on Friday. “Given the urgency and the importance of the subject, Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, and Mr. Luca Montezemolo, Chairman of Ferrari, will be happy to meet with you and your board at your earliest convenience. I am sure that as a long-standing and significant shareholder, you will extend this courtesy to us.”