The buyout arm of Goldman Sachs and Madrone Capital Partners, a private investment group affiliated with Wal-Mart, have invested $1 billion for an undisclosed minority stake in the Global Hyatt Corporation.
The hotel group’s owners, the Pritzker family, said in a statement they were seeking liquidity. The family of eleven cousins decided in 2001 to split the assets they hold in the company by 2011, and the buyout firms’ investment is intended to aid this process.
Tom Pritzker, chairman of the hotel group, said the group was in a process of making itself “public ready” in reporting standards, controls, management and growth profile – although he insisted it had no specific plans to enter the public markets.
Madrone’s Greg Penner and Goldman Sachs’ Byron Trott will join the group’s board.
Global Hyatt plans to open more than 65 hotels over the next three years, including 16 in Greater China, to augment the 213 it already has under management. The entire group is believed to be worth $20 billion under management, according to media reports.
Buyout firms have been very active in the hotel sector. In July The Blackstone Group completed the biggest such deal to date, with the $26 billion buyout of Hilton Hotels Corporation.
Madrone Capital Partners is the investment vehicle of Wal-Mart chairman Rob Walton and his family.
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