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Whitbread, the UK–listed leisure group, is being looked at by Starwood Capital, Blackstone and others for a bid for the whole company, sources familiar with the situation said. Starwood Capital looked at Whitbread last year advised by JPMorgan, but the deal got leaked, an industry source claiming knowledge of the situation said. Rothschild is now advising Starwood Capital, the US real estate investment firm, on a bid for the entire company, the industry source claiming knowledge said. A spokesperson for JPMorgan declined to comment.

A source at Rothschild confirmed that the bank has done a lot of work for Starwood Capital but said that the Whitbread share price had gone very high, making a bid less likely. The source at Rothschild said that another large private equity bidder was looking seriously at Whitbread but he would not confirm which one.

Shares in Whitbread went up 11% on Tuesday on talk of a private equity bid for the group. Cinven and CVC are likely to have looked at the opportunity, as well as all the other big PE firms, industry sources said. “If a deal happens it will happen quick, but there will be a lot of competition for Whitbread from private equity players, not strategics,” an industry source said.

Starwood Capital is keen on buying Whitbread’s Premier Travel Inns business most of all, but like its bid for Taittinger, it would be likely to acquire all of Whitbread and then sell unwanted assets, the industry source said. Premier Travel Inn would be the most interesting asset for Starwood Capital and Premier Lodge is a perfect complement to Starwood’s hotel asset in France, Societe du Louvre SA, the French hotel operator it bought at the same time as the Taittinger deal, the industry source added. Whitbread still has some restaurants under Brewer Fayre, although a lot of it has been sold off, the industry source said. Whitbread also has restaurants Costa Coffee and Beefeater, fitness chain David Lloyd leisure and Touchbase, a services business.

Industry sources said that the PE players most interested in Whitbread are the ones that like property deals. Blackstone, Starwood Capital, CVC, Cinven and Whitbread would not comment on the speculation. Sources said they thought Tuesday’s share price rise was linked to speculation of PE interest for the whole group rather than a possible sale of the David Lloyd fitness chain.

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