ANBANG Insurance Group Co., which tried to buy a U.S. hotel company in March, yesterday denied a report that it is considering a bid for U.K.-based InterContinental Hotels Group Plc., owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands.

    Anbang has no plans to make a bid and is not considering an offer for InterContinental, said Chris Winans, a spokesman for Anbang at the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton Strategies. He declined to make any further immediate comment.

    InterContinental, with a market value of 6.27 billion pounds (US$8.2 billion), has been the subject of recurring takeover speculation amid consolidation in the lodging industry worldwide.

    Beijing-based Anbang in March abruptly withdrew its US$14 billion takeover offer for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., clearing the way for Marriott International Inc. to buy the U.S. hotel company.

    The United Kingdom’s Sunday Times reported that Anbang is in the early stages of considering making a 7-billion-pound offer for InterContinental, citing people it didn’t identify. InterContinental declined to comment to the newspaper. An InterContinental spokeswoman declined to comment.

    The news came days after IHG chief executive Richard Solomons and his wife Karin sold stocks worth more than 2.5 million pounds following a spike in the InterContinental share price, which had soared 19 percent in a month.

    Marriott has said it expects to complete the Starwood acquisition as soon as Chinese regulators approve the transaction. The second phase of Chinese regulatory review ends Tuesday and Marriott chief executive officer Arne Sorenson said July 28 on the company’s second-quarter earnings call that he is optimistic the deal will close in the next few weeks.

    (SD-Agencies)