KKR, Bain's HCA files for up to $4.6b IPO
Sunday, 9 May 2010
NEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters): Hospital operator HCA Inc, backed by buyout firms Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, filed for an initial public offering of up to $4.6 billion, the biggest buyout-backed offering since the financial crisis began nearly three years ago.
The filing comes as IPOs around the world are being canceled as fear over Greece's deepening debt crisis and a sudden drop in US stocks Thursday rattled markets. Stock markets continued to fall Friday.
The HCA IPO will be the largest private equity-backed flotation since the financial meltdown, according to data, and is the latest evidence that private equity firms are again able to exit investments made during the boom.
HCA was bought in November 2006 in a 21-billion-dollar deal by a consortium that also included Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and HCA's founder. In January it announced plans to pay its owners a 1.75-billion-dollar dividend.
KKR also took its discount retailer Dollar General Corp public in November in an offering that raised about $716 million.
Other IPOs are waiting in the wings, such as Nielsen, the world's largest TV and consumer measurement company, which is owned by a consortium including Carlyle, Blackstone Group and KKR; and retailer Toys R Us, owned by KKR and Bain, sources previously said.
IPOs for Nielsen and Toys R Us are expected this year, a source familiar with the situation said.
Another of KKR and Bain's investments, Dutch semiconductor company NXP Semiconductors NV, filed for an offering of up to $1.15 billion in April.
The HCA IPO will include about $2.5 billion of newly issued shares sold by the company, as well as stock sold by shareholders.
"There is a real dearth of a large market capitalization vehicle in the hospital space for large mutual fund investors to invest in," said CRT Capital Group analyst Sheryl Skolnick.
"The opportunity to have a stable, well-run company in the public marketplace is attractive to them," she said.
The passage of the new healthcare reform law means adding potentially millions more insured customers for hospitals.
The filing comes as IPOs around the world are being canceled as fear over Greece's deepening debt crisis and a sudden drop in US stocks Thursday rattled markets. Stock markets continued to fall Friday.
The HCA IPO will be the largest private equity-backed flotation since the financial meltdown, according to data, and is the latest evidence that private equity firms are again able to exit investments made during the boom.
HCA was bought in November 2006 in a 21-billion-dollar deal by a consortium that also included Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and HCA's founder. In January it announced plans to pay its owners a 1.75-billion-dollar dividend.
KKR also took its discount retailer Dollar General Corp public in November in an offering that raised about $716 million.
Other IPOs are waiting in the wings, such as Nielsen, the world's largest TV and consumer measurement company, which is owned by a consortium including Carlyle, Blackstone Group and KKR; and retailer Toys R Us, owned by KKR and Bain, sources previously said.
IPOs for Nielsen and Toys R Us are expected this year, a source familiar with the situation said.
Another of KKR and Bain's investments, Dutch semiconductor company NXP Semiconductors NV, filed for an offering of up to $1.15 billion in April.
The HCA IPO will include about $2.5 billion of newly issued shares sold by the company, as well as stock sold by shareholders.
"There is a real dearth of a large market capitalization vehicle in the hospital space for large mutual fund investors to invest in," said CRT Capital Group analyst Sheryl Skolnick.
"The opportunity to have a stable, well-run company in the public marketplace is attractive to them," she said.
The passage of the new healthcare reform law means adding potentially millions more insured customers for hospitals.