The Barclay brothers have raised their stake in InterContinental Hotels Group to 8.19 per cent from 7.1 per cent through their investment vehicle Ellerman Corp.
Twins David and Frederick, who own the Ritz hotel in London and the Telegraphnewspapers, first revealed in January they had a 5 per cent stake in the InterContinental and Holiday Inn operator, sparking talk they were stakebuilding ahead of a bid.
InterContinental shares were up 0.8 per cent at £12.29 by 11.35am to value the group at £4.37 billion.
InterContinental operates over 3,600 hotels globally and has just completed a three-year hotel sell-off for around £3 billion to become largely a manager of hotel assets, and it has returned most of the proceeds to its shareholders.
It now owns just over £1 billion of assets, largely its flagship hotels in London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong.