HCA Doesn’t Look So Bad. Here’s The Top 10 PE-backed IPOs

HCA, the hospital operator with a massive debt load, is expected to price its IPO tonight (they’re offering 124 million shares at $27 to $30 each) and begin trading tomorrow. The $4.06 billion deal is expected to be the largest private equity backed offering EVER.

In honor of this colossal event, peHUB.com has a slideshow of the top 10 largest U.S. PE-backed IPOs. The data is supplied by Thomson Reuters.

[slideshow]
[slide title=”No. 10: Dex Media”]

Carlyle and Welsh Carson acquired Dex Media in 2002 from Qwest Communications for $7.1 billion. Dex went public in 2004, raising roughly $1.01 billion). R.H. Donnelley ended up buying Dex Media for $4.2 billion a year later.

[slide title=”No. 9: Talecris Biotherapeutics”]

Talecris, which makes protein therapies, filed for a $1 billion IPO in 2007 which never got off the ground. In September 2009, Talecris refiled for a $800 million IPO and the biotech did go public later that month, raising $1.06 billion. Cerberus and Ampersand, Talecris’s largest investors at the time, sold 15.8 million shares in the deal. Grifols last year offered to buy Talecris  for about $4 billion but the deal has been delayed and is now expected to close in June. Cerberus and Ampersand own about 49%, according to SEC filings.

[slide title=”No. 8: Hyatt Hotels Corp”]

Hyatt Hotels Corp. successfully navigated one of the worst hospitality environments in November 2009 to go public, raising $1.09 billion. The hotel company was controlled by Chicago’s Pritzker Family.

[slide title=”No. 7: Och-Ziff Capital Management”]

Och-Ziff, the hedge fund and PE manager, went public in November 2007, raising $1.15 billion. Shares are since down nearly have from its $32 IPO price. On Wednesday, the stock was up by a dime to $16.20 a share.

[slide title=”No. 6: Hertz Global”]

In December 2005, a trio of PE firms —Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Carlyle Group, and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity– bought Hertz Corp. for $15 billion from Ford Motor. The PE firms reportedly invested only $2.3 billion equity. Seven months later Hertz filed to go public and the IPO was launched in November of 2006, raising $1.32 billion. The owners, at the time of the IPO, had already received a $1 billion dividend.

[slide title=”No. 5: Huntsman Corp.”]

Huntsman went public in February 2005, raising $1.59 billion. At the time, the chemicals company was owned by the Huntsman family and MatlinPatterson. With the IPO, the investors sold small stakes in the company (they owned 63.2% after the deal). The big win apparently came two years later when Leon Black’s Apollo Management agreed to buy Huntsman for $10.6 billion. But that unraveled when the buyers backed out of the deal.

[slide title=”No. 4: Spirit AeroSystems Holdings”]

In 2005, Onex Corp., the Canadian PE firm, acquired the aircraft component factory business of Boeing Corp. to form Spirit AeroSystems. Onex reportedly invested $375 million. In November 2006, Spirit AeroSystems went public, raising $1.65 billion.

[slide title=”No. 3: Nielsen Holding”]

Six PE firms, including the Blackstone Group, Hellman & Friedman, Carlyle, KKR and Thomas H. Lee Partners, acquired Nielsen Holdings for $9.7 billion in 2006. The TV ratings and consumer research company went public this past January, raising $1.89 billion. The PE firms did not sell shares in the IPO and owned a majority of Nielsen after the IPO, a January SEC filing says.

[slide title=”No. 2: Kinder Morgan”]
Goldman Sachs, Highstar Capital LP, Carlyle and Riverstone Holdings took Kinder Morgan private in 2007 via a $22 billion LBO. The pipeline company went public in February, raising $3.29 billion.

[slide title=”No. 1: HCA”]

Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity (now BAML Capital Partners), and affiliates of HCA founder Dr. Thomas Frist acquired HCA in November 2006 for about $33 billion. The buyers invested $5.3 billion equity in the deal. If HCA prices at the mid point, $28.50 a share, the IPO will weigh in at $4.06 billion. More importantly, Bain, KKR and BAML stand to triple their money (they’ve already scored $4.35 billion in dividends).

[/slideshow]