Mexican hotel operator City Express plans to go public next month

Hoteles City Express SAB, a Mexican operator of hotels for business travelers, plans to raise about $250 million in an initial public offering this year, said Abelardo Loscos, a company investor relations official.

The hotel operator plans to carry out the offering next month, Loscos said in a telephone interview today from Mexico City, where City Express is based. About 75 percent of the offering will consist of new shares, with the remainder coming from current holders, according to Loscos.

City Express said in a regulatory filing that it has hired Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and Corp. Actinver SAB to help manage the IPO.

The company is seeking to benefit from business travel demand as Latin America’s second-biggest economy is poised for a fourth year of growth, according to forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. City Express plans to use the proceeds to build hotels and buy stakes in some others, according to the prospectus.

Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe, a hotel operator part owned by private equity firm Nexxus Capital SC, is also among companies seeking to go public in Mexico this year, according to three people with knowledge of that transaction.

Editors: Bradley Keoun and Richard Richtmyer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Levin in Mexico City at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at [email protected].