Hyatt Hotels initial public offering

America’s Pritzker family has decided to float its Hyatt Hotels chain in what promises to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) of 2009 to date.

America’s Pritzker family has decided to float its Hyatt Hotels chain in what promises to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) of 2009 to date.

In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it plans to raise up to $1.15 billion in an initial share sale.

Hyatt said the Pritzkers hold an 85 percent stake in the company, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has 7.5 percent and Madrone Capital Partners has 6.1 percent.

Hyatt operates hotels under brands including Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Place. It owns 413 hotels worldwide and employs more than 80,000 people. The filing said the company posted a loss of $36 million in the first half of 2009, compared with a year-earlier profit of $173 million. Revenue fell almost 19 percent, to $1.64 billion.

The closely held hotel chain two years ago sold a minority stake to raise funds to distribute to various relatives as part of a plan to divide up the family’s huge empire. Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, a private-equity affiliate of investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Madrone Capital Partners, which is affiliated with Rob Walton, chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and an heir to the retail fortune, each invested $500 million for an undisclosed “equity-linked” stake and a seat on Hyatt’s board.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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