Breaking up a billionaire’s property empire
Real estate company Realogy has filed to raise $1 billion in its initial public offering, Bloomberg News reported, even after reporting net losses every year since 2008. Realogy is the owner of real estate brands such as Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran Group and Sotheby’s International Realty, among others. Five years ago it was taken private by Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management. The leveraged $6.6 billion buyout is still the largest on record for a real estate firm; and now signs of a recovering housing market have prompted Apollo to take the company public.
Although the number and price of shares has not been announced, Apollo will retain the majority of the voting common stock. Realogy’s parent Domus Holdings will allow Apollo in conjunction with John Paulson’s hedge fund Paulson and Company to convert approximately $2 billion of convertible notes ahead of the IPO. This will give Apollo some 66 percent and Paulson, who recorded big losses last year thanks to repeated property bets, nearly 22 percent of Domus’ Class A stock prior to the IPO. According to Bloomberg News, Paulson has agreed to hold his stock for a many as 180 days after Realogy goes public. [Bloomberg]
