Marriott, Bass vie to book up Compass hotels-sources

By David Jones and Arindam Nag
LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Global hotel giants Marriott (NYSE:MAR) and Bass (UK & Ireland: BASS.L) are favourites to clinch Granada Compass's 3.5 billion pound ($5.14 billion) hotel empire in the world's biggest hotel auction, industry sources said on Tuesday.

They added that Granada Compass is likely to trim its auction shortlist to three early next week to include the U.S. hotels group, Bass which is partnering Millennium & Copthorne (MLC.L), and private equity firm Nomura .

Up for sale are Granada Compass's 146-strong luxury 4/5 star worldwide Meridien chain, and in the UK, 79 mid-market three star Posthouses, 47 Heritage country hotels and three London Signature Hotels as the company looks to focus on its contract catering and roadside restaurants businesses.

Read this entire article at http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010116/l12338295.html