Hilton prices at $20 a share in largest hotel IPO

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Hilton Worldwide Holdings announced Wednesday after market close that its initial public offering will be priced at $20 per share, one of the largest IPOs of the year. The company will be selling 112.8 million shares at $20, initially expected to be between $18 and $21 per share.

This is the largest ever IPO for a hotel company, and it will raise $2.35 billion. This will give the company a stock market value of $19.7 billion. An initial September estimate for the offering had been $1.25 billion.

The sale comes after private equity firm Blackstone Group bought Hilton in 2007 for nearly $26 billion.

Hilton, which includes brands Waldorf Astoria, DoubleTree and Hampton Inn, owns more than 4,000 properties worldwide, making it the world's largest hotel operator.

Investors have lauded the company for cutting costs during tough times throughout the recession. And in the past year revenues have rebounded, rising more than 2 percent to $7.1 billion in the first nine months of 2013 as profits rose 66 percent to $189 million. This comes among a larger trend of flourishing commercial real estate.

Shares are to start trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "HLT."

[Wall Street Journal] [Bloomberg]