In what is projected to be the largest hotel company initial public offering ever, Hilton Worldwide plans to price its shares Wednesday evening after market closes and begin selling shares on Thursday.
Hilton Worldwide, McLean, Virginia, revealed earlier this month in a regulatory filing that it plans to raise up to US$2.37 billion with its IPO.
A Bloomberg report on Wednesday said Blackstone is poised to generate one of the two biggest private-equity profits of all time, standing to make a paper profit of more than US$8 billion in the IPO.
Hilton and existing shareholders are offering 112.8 million shares in the IPO for US$18 to $21 each. The sale was more than five times oversubscribed as of yesterday afternoon, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Based on the roughly US$6.5 billion that Blackstone has invested into Hilton, the valuation would give the firm an unrealized gain of US$8.1 billion. If Hilton prices at $21, Blackstone’s shares would be worth US$15.8 billion, for a paper profit of about $9.3 billion.
The Blackstone Group, New York City, owns Hilton Worldwide and took the hotel management company private for US$26 billion in 2007. Blackstone will likely retain 76% ownership after the IPO and Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley are arranging the IPO.