6C demerger vote to go ahead

Six Continents will press ahead with a shareholder vote on splitting the group it said after dismissing claims a consortium including CVC Capital Partners wanted to launch a £6bn cash bid for the whole company.

If true, the CVC bid would be the second on the table and would add to the pressure on Six Continents management to delay a crucial extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday to approve a plan to divide the company into its hotels and pubs interests. While sources close to Six Continents said it had held talks with members of the CVC consortium, they said these were only about its hotel interests. Six Continents insiders were adamant that CVC did not want to delay the EGM.

Hugh Osmond's Capital Management and Investment, the only party to have lodged a formal bid, a hostile £5.6bn offer for the whole of Six Continents, seized on a press report that said CVC had joined it in wanting a delay in the EGM.

CVC, which is thought to be working with Texas Pacific, another finance house, and the hotel groups Marriott and Starwood, confirmed its interest in Six Continents on a "friendly" basis.

However, it refused to say whether it wanted the EGM to be adjourned or if it was interested in bidding for the entire company. JP Morgan, the bank which the news report claimed was advising CVC, said it had "no knowledge" of a counterbid.