Skift Take

It's official: The Blackstone Group is the most astute lodging investor in the world. You can't argue the case given its profits from acquiring Hilton Worldwide in 2007, and turning it around.

The Blackstone Group has done pretty well so far on its 2007 acquisition of Hilton Worldwide for $26 billion as the recession kicked in — historically well.

Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman said last week that Hilton’s share price was trading at “a multiple of 2.8 times our original investment and implies a total gain of almost $12 billion, which we believe is the largest private equity gain in history.”

Hilton Worldwide shares closed July 18 at $24.55 per share.

In December 2013, after years of speculation about the timing, Hilton Worldwide raised a record $2.35 billion in an initial public offering.

As of March 31, 2014, Blackstone still beneficially owned 76.4% of Hilton Worldwide’s common stock.

In the second quarter of 2014, Blackstone sold some of its shares of Hilton for the first time, but also took out a loan against part of its holdings in Hilton, and that returned $2 billion to Blackstone’s limited partners.

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Tags: blackstone, hilton, ipo

Photo credit: An exterior shot of the Hilton Midtown is seen in this file photo taken in New York June 7, 2013. Andrew Kelly / Reuters

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