Hotels are attracting big interest from private investors, who seem to value lodging stocks much higher than public markets.
That’s the conclusion many are drawing from a proposal to take the giant Hilton Hotels Corporation (HLT) private in a $26 billion deal. The private equity Blackstone Group (BX) announced late on Tuesday that it will pay $47.50 per share to buy Hilton, a 40% premium over Monday’s closing price.
The “big gap” between private and public markets “is not sustainable,” Robert LaFleur, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, wrote in a report on Thursday. Either hotel stocks rise, or private equity will buy up the whole hotel space, he says. Read more