Starwood Capital Preparing for IPO

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Starwood Capital Group's chief executive Barry Sternlicht is in talks to sell shares of his company in an initial public offering, according to media reports. 

Greenwich, Conn.-based Starwood has $22 billion in assets under management and is one of the world's largest investors with investments in hotels, office buildings, apartment buildings and shopping malls.  

Mr. Sternlicht founded Starwood Capital in 1991 and owns a vast majority of the company. A few years later he created Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he founded the W Hotel chain. He left Starwood Hotels in 2005 after Starwood Capital sold its interest in the hotel company when it went public. The two are no longer associated. 

The new public offering would allow the company to raise cash and finance new business, something Mr. Sternlicht has previously said he wanted to do. 

Details for the public offering aren't available as talks for an IPO remain private. 

In the previous year, the IPO market has soared. Starwood Capital runs two public companies, Starwood European Real Estate Finance and Starwood Property Trust. Last November, Starwood Property spun off its single-family residential business, known as Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust, which trades in New York. 

Starwood's real estate funds have an annual net return of 18 percent. The firm is looking to raise up to $5 billion for its 10th fund of its distressed real estate fund series, The Wall Street Journal reports.