WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL ®

Qi Ji, Shanghai hotelier

(SHANGHAI, CHINA) -- China Lodging Group Ltd  (NASDAQ (GM): HTHT)  plans an initial public offering of 9 million American Depositary Shares valued at US .0001 per share, with an estimated value of $127 million, according to the preliminary prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Shanghai-based company granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1.35 million additional ADSs at the IPO price less the underwriting discount and commission.

China Lodging anticipates the IPO price of the ADSs to be between US $10.25 and US $12.25 per ADS. The shares will be listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "HTHT."

The company has 236 economy-priced hotels with 28,360 rooms in 40 China cities, as of Dec. 31, 2009

Hoover's, an online Dun & Bradstreet company, notes the company's hotels are mostly in China's east coast region.

It has another 140 in development, which would put the ratio of leased-and-operated to managed-under-franchise about even, though the company makes most of its revenue from the former category.

China Lodging's banners include HanTing Express and HanTing Seasons, both business hotels, and HanTing Hi Inn, a budget hotel.

The company locates its hotels in the country's more industrial and tourist-oriented cities. China Lodging began operations in 2005 and filed to go public in 2010.  Chairman Qi Ji owns about 62% of the company.

Other top executives are CEO Tuo (Matthew) Zhang and CFO Min (Jenny) Zhang.

For the fiscal Year that ended Dec. 31, 2009, the company posted sales of $195.1 million.  China Lodging Group has 6,181 employees.

The average annual revenue generated per employee is around $80,000.

China Lodging Group's  goal, according to the prospectus, is to become one of the leading hotel groups in China through the following strategies:

• Enhance market leadership through prudent return-driven network expansion;
• Meet evolving market demand through product diversification and customer segmentation;
• Further enhance brand recognition and expand customer base by leveraging its loyalty program;
• Continue to invest in human capital to support future growth; and
• Continue to implement cost control measures to enhance profitability. 

 

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