The board of the Orient Express Hotels (OEH) is not likely to accept an offer by Indian Hotels, a Tata Group company that values Orient's shares at $12.63 per share and wait for a higher revised bid from the Indian company.

Analysts expect the shares to be valued between $15 and $20 per unit to be a fair value fot eh assets of the company. The board of the OEH has appointed Deutsche Bank for advice on the bid by Tata and it is expected to response to the offer within three weeks.

Many also expect that rival takeover bids will be offered soon including one from holding company of Saudi prince Al-Waleed, Kingdom Holdings. This might even spark a bidding war between the potential takeover players.

There are indications that mionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben might launch a counterbid along with Cohen and Steers Capital for OEH. Reubens already own a 6.2 per cent stake in the company while Cohen and Steers Capital own a 13 per cent stake. The new counter offer is expected to be in eth range of $16 per share.

The OEH board will have much control over the process as it has created a tiered share structure with differential voting rights. OEH and its subsidiary has the majority stake and will maintain an upper hand in making decisions over the acquisition of the company.