The U.S.-Chinese joint venture that owns Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the largest independent hotel-operator in the U.S., is in discussion to sell the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hotel investor Thayer Lodging Group and Chinese hotel company Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Group Co. own Interstate through a partnership that acquired the company in a 2010 deal valued at $307 million.

The owners have hired investment bank Moelis & Co. to market the company and are considering offers, these people said. The Arlington, Va.-based company is expected to fetch a price of more than $600 million, the people said.

Interstate, which manages about 460 hotels with 81,000 rooms according to its website, has been one of the leaders in a trend that has seen independent hotel managers grow their business this past decade.

Hotel companies like Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Marriott International Inc. have been expanding their room-count rapidly by mostly getting out of the hotel ownership and management business, instead focusing on franchising their brands.

That means hotel owners are increasingly turning to independent hotel managers like Interstate to run their properties. Interstate also manages many of the limited-service hotel brands, like Hilton Garden Inn and Courtyard by Marriott, which has been one of the fast-growing segments of the industry.

Jin Jiang earlier this month had talks about merging with Plateno Group, another Chinese hotel company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/owners-of-interstate-hotels-resorts-in-talks-to-sell-company-1438117845