Hyatt Hotels to go public with $1.5 billion IPO
06 Aug 2009
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, one of the world's leading chain of luxury hotels and resorts owned by Chicago's wealthy Pritzker family is planning to public with an $1.5 billion offering-making it the third largest IPO in the US this year.
The Chicago-based Hyatt, which operates 413 hotels and resorts in 45 countries, made the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday to raise up to $1.15 billion through the offering and use the proceeds for acquisitions and investment in new properties as well as other complimentary businesses.
However, in the filing, Hyatt has not given a date for the IPO nor has it given the price range of the shares or how many shares of Class A common stock would be offered, saying that these issues have still to be worked out.
For the first half of 2009, Hyatt said that it suffered a loss of $36 million compared to a $173 million profit for the same period last year. Revenue fell by 18.5 per cent, to $1.64 billion.
Last month, Hyatt changed the five-year $1 billion credit line it has with Wachovia Bank and said that $370 million is due in June 2010, while the remaining available credit will be due in June 2012.
The hotel industry has faced a fall in demand and sinking profits as businesses and holidaymakers cut back on travel amid the recession. The US hotel industry revenue per available room dropped 18.7 per cent to $53.87 per cent for the first half of 2009 in year-over-year measurements, according to Smith Travel Research (STR) data.
