Blackstone explores sale or IPO of budget hotel chain La Quinta Inns & Suites
07 Aug 2013
New York-based private equity firm Blackstone Group is exploring options, including a sale or an initial public offering of budget hotel chain La Quinta Inns & Suites valued at around $4.5 billion.
Blackstone has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley to explore an outright sale of La Quinta as also the possibility of an IPO, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Blackstone, which acquired La Quinta n 2006 for $3.4 billion, has valued La Quinta at around $4.5 billion, including debt.
The PE firm is also looking to list Hilton Worldwide, which it had acquired in 2007 in a $26 billion deal, and hotel chain Extended Stay America, which has an equity value of between $3 billion and $4 billion.
La Quinta is one of the largest limited-service hotels in the US with more than 805 hotels in the US, Canada and Mexico having over 80,000 rooms.
The Dallas, Texas-based budget hotel chain competes with AmericInn Hotels, Comfort Inn, Baymont Inn & Suites, Fairfield Inn, Country Inns & Suites, and Hampton Inn.
