Discounting family feuds

20 October 2009 By Lauren Silva

The Chicago family is selling around $1bn of stock in a deal that puts a $4bnplus valuation on the hotel group. That’s a big discount to Marriott. But given internal family squabbles and a stock overhang, that’s probably warranted.

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The Pritzker family trust is selling 38m shares of Hyatt at between $23 and $26 a share, not including an additional 5.7m shares that may be purchased by underwriters, according to an updated prospectus filed on October 19. After the deal the family will own 62.4% of the company's stock and hold 78.4% of the voting rights. The company will have 168m shares outstanding after the deal.

Family members have disagreed about the dual class share structure as well as constraints on their future share sales, according to the prospectus. Board member Penny Pritzker has also seen her role shrink, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Disputes among Pritzker family members … including with respect to Hyatt, may arise or continue in the future, the prospectus says. If such disputes occur, they may result in significant distractions to our management, disrupt our business, have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock and/or generate negative publicity about Hyatt and Pritzker family members.

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