Bid to takeover leisure group

US real estate investment firm Starwood Capital is in talks with advisers to launch a bid worth around £3bn (€4.39bn) for leisure group Whitbread, the Mail on Sunday has reported.

In an unsourced report, the paper said investment bank JP Morgan was believed to be advising Starwood on the deal.

Whitbread announced plans to sell its Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub restaurants earlier this year, to focus on building 100 hotels, and doubling the number of its Costa coffee shops to 1,000 by 2010.