Baccarat majority shareholder the US private equity group Starwood Capital reportedly wants to put the "Baccarat" brand on hotels it intends to build, according to a financial newsletter on 29 January 2007. Newsletter La Lettre de L'Expansion said Starwood presented the plan at a Baccarat board meeting on 25 Jan/07 & told other shareholders it could withdraw from the glassmaker in which it has a majority stake unless they gave their approval for the idea within 15 days. Without citing a source for its information, it said Starwood wanted to build hotels in Hawaii & the Caribbean. A Starwood spokesman declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules which apply to internal board meetings. "The only thing I can say is that the stated intention of Starwood is to develop Baccarat", he said. Starwood acquired an indirect majority stake in Baccarat when it bought France's Taittinger and Societe du Louvre for their portfolio of some 800 hotels in 2005. The 25 January board meeting had been expected to discuss a development plan for the company after minority shareholders earlier in January 2007 blocked a Starwood-backed proposal for Baccarat to raise capital to fund its expansion.
