NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Shares of Orient-Express Hotels Ltd., the owner of luxury hotels and New York’s 21 Club restaurant, rose to a record after The Times reported it may be bought for about $3 billion.

Possible buyers include Von Essen Hotels 4 Ltd., Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital Group LLC, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information. Spokeswoman Pippa Isbell said the company had no comment.

Orient-Express operates or owns 49 luxury hotels including the Hotel Splendido in Portofino, Italy, as well as the Venice Simplon-Orient Express, the subject of an Agatha Christie murder mystery. Hotel companies are attractive to private-equity firms and investors, such as the group that purchased Four Seasons Hotels Inc. last month for $3.37 billion, who want their ability to generate cash and the fixed assets of real estate.

The reported price, which works out to about $60 a share, “is a bit low”, David Katz, an analyst at CIBC World Markets in New York, said in a note. “We believe $65 a share is appropriate.”

The stock rose $3.55, or 6.5 percent, to $58.60 at 4.04 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the highest since the initial public offering in August 2000.

Chief executive officer Simon Sherwood’s resignation in February sparked speculation about the sale of the company, which is based in Bermuda and operates from London.

Von Essen owns and operates about 24 country hotels and luxury family hotels in England, Scotland, Wales and France, according to its website. Spokesman Simon Condon said the company “is unavailable for comment.”

Blackstone spokesman John Ford and Starwood spokesman Tom Johnson said the companies had no comment.

Share Structure

Orient-Express has about 42.3 million Class A shares that are listed on NYSE, worth about $2.48 billion based on today’s trading. The company had $586.3 million in long-term debt as of Dec. 31.

Another 18 million Class B shares that are not publicly traded are held by subsidiary Orient-Express Holdings Ltd. and represent about 81 percent of the combined voting power of both Class A and B shares, the company said in a March 1 regulatory filing.

The company was spun off from Sea Containers Ltd., an operator of ferry and cargo ships, in 2000.