HCA in £3bn initial public offering
Hospital operator HCA, backed by buyout firms Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, yesterday filed for an initial public offering of up to £3.12bn, the biggest buyout-backed offering since the financial crisis began nearly three years ago.
The filing comes as IPOs around the world are being cancelled as fear over Greece's deepening debt crisis and a sudden drop in US stocks on Thursday rattled markets.
The HCA IPO will be the largest private-equity backed flotation since the financial meltdown and is the latest evidence that private equity firms are again able to exit investments made during the boom.
HCA was bought in November 2006 in a $21bn deal by a consortium that also included Bank of America, Citigroup, and HCA's founder.
In January it announced plans to pay its owners a $1.75bn dividend.