Why Pritzkers' Feud Is Good For Hyatt Offering

Aug 13, 09 | 1:53 am

By Stephane Fitch

Finally, the Pritzker family of Chicago is pushing ahead with an initial public offering of Hyatt Hotels. Chairman Thomas Pritzker undoubtedly hopes investors will view the hotel company as he does: a crown jewel.

But will we? In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, Hyatt said it would issue shares worth up to $1.15 billion in an offering managed by Goldman Sachs ( GS - news - people ). Missing from the document: what percentage of the hotel company the Pritzkers and its co-owners (Goldman and Madrone Capital Partners, a fund affiliated with the chairman of Wal-Mart Stores ( WMT - news - people ), together own 13% of the company) were planning to sell. The company didn't say whether any of the money raised in an IPO would stay in its own coffers. It does state clearly that the Pritzkers have no intention of giving public shareholders voting control of the company.

Not a great start. But ironically, the very thing that has forced Tom Pritzker to invite the public to buy into Hyatt--his family's feud and the resulting agreement to break up its collective fortune by 2011--may add to the appeal of this hotel company's IPO.

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Source: Forbes.com