It is understood that Huazhu Hotel Group was listed on Nasdaq in 2010. The company has hotel brands with different customer groups including: Novotel Hotel, ibis Hotel, etc.

The return craze of Chinese concept stocks is booming.

In recent years, it has been difficult for Chinese budget hotels listed in the United States to gain favor from local investors. However, the valuation of the domestic capital market is relatively high, and the return of Chinese concept stocks has become a trend. With the return of Home Inns to A-shares, the three major budget hotels Seven Days Hotel Group Group, Home Inn Hotel Group and Huazhu Group ( Hanting Hotel ) that were previously listed on the US stock market are now the only ones left. The group has not responded.

On June 18, according to sources, the Chinese concept hotel chain Huazhu Hotels is discussing with financial advisors a return to Hong Kong for a secondary listing. It plans to list in Hong Kong as soon as the end of this year and plans to raise US$500 million to US$10. billion US dollars (HK$3.9 billion to HK$7.8 billion).

It is worth noting that another source said that the company has not yet finalized the scale of the fundraising. According to current company valuation calculations, the company is expected to issue 5% to 10% of its shares and raise approximately US$500 million to US$1 billion. However, Huazhu Group stated that it has no plans to return to Hong Kong for a secondary listing.

It is understood that Huazhu Hotel Group was listed on Nasdaq in 2010. The company has hotel brands with different customer groups including: Novotel Hotel, ibis Hotel, etc. Affected by the epidemic, the company estimated in April that its net income in the first quarter of this year would fall by 15% to 20% year-on-year. If the impact of the consolidation of Deutsche Hospitality (Deutsche Hotel Group) is excluded, net income is expected to fall by 45% to 50% in the first quarter of 2020.

Huazhu Group (US stock code: HTHT) is China's leading hotel concept stock. The full English name of HTHT is: HuaZhu Hotels Group, Limited. The predecessor of HTHT is the Hanting Hotel Group listed in the United States. In 2012, it was renamed Huazhu Group. Huazhu Group owns many well-known hotel brands, including: Hanting Hotel, Ji Hotel, Orange Hotel, Hi Inn, Starway, Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Xiyue, etc.

Picture source: Internet

Ji Qi, founder and chairman of Huazhu Hotel Group, Ji Qi, in September 1997, founded Shanghai Ctrip Technology Co., Ltd. and served as general manager. In May 1999, he co-founded Ctrip travel network with Liang Jianzhang , Shen Nanpeng , Fan Min . The four people divide the work according to their respective expertise: Ji Qi is the president, Liang Jianzhang is the CEO, Shen Nanpeng is the chief financial officer, and Fan Min is the executive vice president. They are known as the "Four Gentlemen of Ctrip ". In 2002, when the development of Ctrip was going smoothly, he stepped away from Ctrip and founded the Homeinn hotel chain. His identity also changed from the president of Ctrip to the CEO of the Homeinn hotel chain. In 2005, he founded Hanting Hotel chain and served as CEO. In February of the same year, he established Lishan Investment Company and appointed himself as CEO. The investment direction shifted to commercial real estate, with an initial investment of approximately US$20 million.

In 2016, Huazhu wholly acquired the subsidiaries of the French hotel brand Accor (Accor Hotels) operating in mainland China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. It also acquired the mid-range and budget hotel brands of Accor subsidiaries. franchise. At the same time, Huazhu also acquired part of Accor's subsidiaries operating luxury and high-end hotel brands in Greater China.

In 2017, the Crystal Orange Hotel, which focuses on design and sound insulation, was acquired by Huazhu for 3.65 billion yuan.

In 2018, the company acquired 71.2% of the shares of the high-end brand Huajiantang Hotel for 462.9 million yuan, bringing the total shareholding to 82.5%. The valuation of Huajian Tang is 13 times EBITDA. As of the end of 2018, the market value of Huazhu was approximately 24.5 times that year’s EBITDA.

In 2019, the company's Hanting Hotel brand ranked 76th on the BrandZ list of China's most valuable brands, ranking first in the hotel industry, and has been selected into the top 100 of the list for 6 consecutive years.

As of the end of 2019, Huazhu has a total number of 5,618 hotels, ranking second in the country. Among them, there are 3,485 budget hotels, accounting for 62%, and 2,133 mid- to high-end brand hotels, accounting for 37.97%; there are 2,262 hotels under construction, including 826 budget hotels, 1,436 mid-to-high-end hotels, and 2,262 mid-to-high-end hotels. The growth rate is significantly higher than that of budget hotels.There are three business models of

hotels, including self-owned operation, franchise operation and management services. In the early stages of hotel development, hotels are generally self-operated. This is especially true for high-end brands such as Marriott and Hilton. This is also true for Huazhu Group in its early stages of development when establishing the market through the "Hanting" brand. When a hotel reaches a certain scale, it will often seek rapid expansion, especially mid-range hotel chains, which will seek franchising to seize market share as quickly as possible. Management services often seek third-party service providers to operate .

Generally speaking, the hotel brands under Huazhu have different positionings, covering the segmented needs of different user groups, forming strong industry competition barriers, synergy effects, and controlling pricing power to a certain extent. At the same time, its flagship brands such as Hanting Hotel and Orange Hotel have certain advantages compared with other hotels of the same type and have been recognized by quite a few users. Long-term stable development is expected. Therefore, if Huazhu successfully returns, it is worthy of continued attention.