Carlyle-backed New Century Hotel Group plans IPO

The move comes despite considerable stock market volatility, which has led to several companies shelving listing plans in recent weeks. The Hang Seng Index was down 3.50% in morning trading on Monday, following a 4.3% decline to 20,946.14 points on Friday, its lowest level in nearly a year.

New Century Hotel, based in Hangzhou, manages nearly 70 properties with almost 20,000 rooms in major tourist centers such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Kunming. It wants to expand its network to 123 hotels by the end of 2015 in order to capitalize on the growing demand for travel services in China.

According to separate reports, Carlyle invested $100 million in New Century Hotel in 2008, taking a 40% stake. It isn't clear whether the private equity firm would completely exit its holding should the listing go through.

Carlyle recently raised around $990 million through its third sell-down in China Pacific Insurance in the space of seven months. The total $3.64 billion raised from the sell-downs - against an initial investment of $740 million made in two tranches, in 2005 and 2007 - is the second-largest open market exits ever recorded by a private equity firm in China, according to AVCJ Research.

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• Topics
• Consumer
• Greater China
• Exits
• The Carlyle Group