Blackstone-owned Hilton files for $1.25 bln initial public offering

Blackstone took Hilton private in 2007 in a $26.7 billion deal, one of the largest leveraged buyouts that preceded the 2008 global financial crisis.

The U.S. hotel industry has been steadily improving as more people travel and businesses recover, allowing hotels to increase prices.

Hilton’s EBITDA is expected to be 58 percent higher in 2013 than in 2009, according to a recent presentation to Blackstone shareholders.

Hilton’s operating income rose 33 percent to $656 million on revenue of $4.64 billion in the six months ended June 30 from the same period last year.

Reuters reported last month that Blackstone was preparing to bring Hilton to the public market.

Founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton, Hilton Worldwide’s brands include Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Home2Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, and Hilton Grand Vacations.

Hilton Worldwide has about 4,000 hotels, resorts and timeshare properties, comprising 665,667 rooms in 90 countries and territories, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

Blackstone, one of world’s biggest owners of real estate, earlier filed with regulators to take hotel chain Extended Stay America Inc public. Blackstone, Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co bought Extended Stay out of bankruptcy three years ago for about $3.9 billion.

According to data from Smith Travel Research Inc, which tracks hotel industry data, revenue per available room (RevPAR) has increased about 6.9 percent over the past three years in the Americas and demand has returned to pre-economic crisis levels.

The Asia Pacific region has also experienced high RevPAR growth during the last three years, primarily fueled by China and to a less degree Southeast Asia.

RevPAR is a key measure of hotel health, calculated by multiplying a hotel’s average daily room rate by its occupancy rate.

SURGING IPO MARKET

The IPO market has surged this year as a rising stock prices and low interest rates have enticed investors.

IPOs this year from private equity-backed companies include industrial and construction supplies company HD Supply Holdings Inc, child care operator Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc, cruise line operator Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd and communications technology company West Corp.

The global volume of IPOs increased 14 percent to $79.2 billion in 2013 up to August, compared with the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The $2.2 billion raised by Pfizer Inc’s animal health subsidiary Zoetis Inc has been the largest U.S. IPO so far this year.

Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are the lead underwriters on the Hilton offering.

Hilton plans to use the proceeds from the offering to repay debt and for other general corporate purposes. The filing did not disclose the number of shares on offer or their expected price.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Tanya Agrawal is a reporter for Reuters News in Bangalore