Elegant Hotels, which owns and runs seven luxury hotels in Barbados, has been bought by international rival Marriott Hotels for £101 million.

The 110p-a-share bid is a 57% premium to the closing price on Thursday and will allow Marriott to expand its recently launched all-inclusive offerings.

According to London-based Elegant, six of its seven hotels are on Barbados's so-called Platinum Coast, where footballers, celebrities and billionaire businessmen regularly stay over Christmas and New Year.

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Chairman Simon Sherwood said: "The board of Elegant Hotels is confident in the group's long-term prospects but believes that this offer represents compelling value for our shareholders and a great opportunity for our employees to be part of one of the world's leading hotel companies.

"The fact that Elegant Hotels has attracted the interest of a company of Marriott's calibre is a resounding endorsement of the outstanding quality of our properties, operations and people, and indeed of Barbados as a highly desirable destination. We are therefore unanimously recommending the offer to our shareholders."

Investors in Elegant will vote on whether to accept the deal in the coming weeks.

Arne M Sorenson, president and chief executive of Marriott, said: "There is a strong and growing consumer demand for premium and luxury properties in the all-inclusive category.

"The addition of the Elegant Hotels portfolio will help us further jump-start our expansion in the all-inclusive space, while providing more choices on the breathtaking island of Barbados."

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Marriott has 7,000 properties in 132 countries with brands including Ritz-Carlton, W and Courtyard.

Elegant's most recent results for the six months to March 31 saw revenues up 3% to $43.7 million (£33.9 million), with the industry's all-important revenue per available room at $364 (£283) a night.

One of the UK's biggest warehouse and logistics businesses has emerged as another possible bidder for haulage company Eddie Stobart Logistics.

Wincanton said it has started looking through Eddie Stobart's books and has until November 15 at 5pm to make an offer or walk away - what is known as a "put up or shut up" deadline.

The deal comes less than a week after Andrew Tinkler, former chief of Stobart Group which spun off Eddie Stobart in 2014, said he was no longer interested in a bid for the business.

The board of Wincanton said it is "currently undertaking a diligence exercise on Eddie Stobart and its assets, in order to enable it to assess the potential merits of a combination.

"No proposal has been made by Wincanton to Eddie Stobart as to the terms of any potential offer, and there can be no certainty that any offer will be made to Eddie Stobart shareholders."

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In response, Eddie Stobart, which has seen its shares suspended since August over a £2 million accounting black hole, confirmed it has given access to Wincanton to carry out research.

The number of Scottish businesses going bust has fallen by more than a third in the last three months, according to new research.

Analysis by KPMG found that despite several high-profile cases, the number of companies entering into administration, receivership or liquidation in Scotland decreased by 34.7% in the last quarter.

There were 158 corporate insolvency appointments in the three months to September 30 - down from 244 in the previous quarter and 242 fewer than the same period last year.

Of those cases, 140 involved liquidation, down from 232 in quarter two; 18 were administration and receivership appointments, up from 12 in the previous quarter.

In addition, there were 43 cases were HMRC appointments - 50 fewer than during May to June.

The results were described at "surprising in the context of Brexit" by Blair Nimmo, KMPG's head of restructuring.