Walking around money

Bass claims that it is in no hurry to spend the mound of cash it has been sitting on since the sale of its brewing division to Interbrew. Speculation has Bass linked to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Bass is already the second largest hotel group in the world, owning the Holiday Inn chain (1,515), the Inter-Continental hotels (121), the Crowne Plaza hotels (142) and the Holiday Inn Express hotels (999). Although Bass may be the most global hotelier, having a presence in more countries than any other group, its rooms only account for 4% of the total. Given the group’s intention to double the profit contribution from its hotel division over the next five years, acquisitions of local chains and even one of the large upmarket chains are highly likely.