SHANGHAI, China, Jan. 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. (Nasdaq: HMIN), a leading economy hotel chain in China, today announced that it was recently named "2006 IPO of the Year" by Renaissance Capital's IPO research committee. Home Inns is the first non-U.S. company to receive this award from Renaissance Capital.
Selected from a pool of the 198 companies that went public in 2006, Home Inns was chosen based on its aggressive expansion, consistent provision of affordable quality lodging under a unified brand name, strong profitability and robust occupancy rates.
"It is an honor for Home Inns to be recognized as '2006 IPO of the year' by Renaissance Capital," said Mr. David Sun, Home Inns' Chief Executive Officer. "China's travel industry is rapidly expanding, and we hope to build on our successes by continuing to provide the growing number of business and leisure travelers with clean, comfortable and convenient lodging."
"Home Inns has impressed us with its ability to capitalize on its first mover advantage in the Chinese lodging industry," Renaissance Capital's President Mr. William K. Smith remarked. "Home Inns is well positioned for phenomenal growth in a nascent market, which distinguishes it from the rest of this year's pack."
As of September 30, 2006, the Home Inns hotel chain consisted of 78 leased-and-operated hotels and 29 franchised-and-managed hotels in operation, with an additional 33 leased-and-operated hotels and 23 franchised-and-managed hotels under development, covering 45 cities in China. The average number of rooms per hotel in operation was 119.
Home Inns completed its Nasdaq IPO in October 2006, receiving approximately US$72.8 million net proceeds from the offering.
About Renaissance Capital LLC
Greenwich, Connecticut-based Renaissance Capital is the leading provider of independent research on Initial Public Offerings and newly public companies, having analyzed over 5,000 IPOs since its inception 15 years ago. The Firm provides its research to numerous institutional investment firms and investment banks, and to more than 10 million individual investors. Renaissance Capital is also the advisor to the IPO Plus Fund (IPOSX), the only publicly traded mutual fund focusing on the IPO market. Holdings in the IPO Plus Fund are selected based upon Renaissance Capital's research.
About Home Inns
Home Inns is a leading economy hotel chain in China based on the number of hotels and hotel rooms, as well as the geographic coverage of the hotel chain. Since Home Inns commenced operations in 2002, it has become one of the best-known economy hotel brands in China. Home Inns offers a consistent product and high-quality services to primarily serve the fast growing population of value-conscious individual business and leisure travelers who demand clean, comfortable and convenient lodging. Home Inns' ADSs, each of which represents two ordinary shares, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "HMIN." For more information about Home Inns, please visit http://english.homeinns.com .
For investor or media inquiries please contact:
In China:
Ms. Angela Li
Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc.
Tel: +86-21-6486-1818 x2004
Email: xlli@homeinns.com
Mr. Rory Macpherson
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Tel: +86-10-8520-6553
Email: rory.macpherson@ogilvy.com
In the United States:
Mr. Thomas Smith
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Tel: +1-212-880-5269
Email: thomas.smith@ogilvypr.com
