Barclays check out of InterContinental
SIR?David and Sir Frederick Barclay, the billionaire investors, sold their entire 10.4 per cent stake in InterContinental Hotel Group for £335m yesterday, sending shares in the world’s biggest hotelier down sharply.
InterContinental, the owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, said the twin
brothers’ investment vehicle Ellermann Corp had sold all of its 29.9m shares.
Sir David and Sir Frederick, owners of the Daily Telegraph, Littlewoods and the London Ritz hotel, started buying shares in the group toward the end of 2006, paying between around £9.50 and £13 per share while they accumulated their stake.
They built their holding to around 10 per cent by May 2007 to become the biggest shareholders, and it was thought for a while that they might mount a takeover bid.
Barclays Capital was the sole bookrunner for placing the 29.9m shares the brothers held at £11.20 each, the lower end of the broker’s revised range, according to traders.
In recent weeks InterContinental, which owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, has been lifted by a successful investor roadshow, and by positive comments on current trading by rivals such as Starwood. Its share price has jumped 34 per cent since January, and 88 per cent in the past year.
InterContinental’s house brokers are JP Morgan and Bank of America, which were not involved in the transaction. Barclays Capital declined to comment on the placing yesterday.
Shares in InterContinental closed 7.4 per cent down yesterday at £11.10, its steepest drop since June 2007.