Strong IPO activity as we head out of 2013 (it works both ways).

In the last two days, there have been three big IPO happenings. Let’s take a brief look:

Hilton Worldwide

The most high profile of the recent IPOs was Hilton Worldwide. It is the hotel company, in case you’ve been living under a rock and have not had to travel ever.

It is the largest of the IPOs at $2.4 billion. However, it only priced just above the middle of the range at $20/share.

Hilton was owned by Blackstone before the IPO. The pre-IPO ownership vehicle (Hilton Global Holdings) is distributing its shares of Hilton to its members and selling other shares into the IPO to generate cash to distribute to its members, with additional payments to be made to Hilton Worldwide.

This was the largest hotel IPO.

Autohome

In Chinese company IPO news, Autohome priced yesterday above its range at $17/share, raising about $123.6 million after underwriting discounts. Autohome runs Chinese websites that provide information about cars to the tune of $34.8 million in net income in 2012.

At the beginning of trading, ATHM spiked to $31.44, dipped to $26.00, rallied to the low $31′s and closed at $30.07.

Telstra, the giant Australian telecom company, controls 66.2% of Autohome after the IPO.

Valero Energy Partners

In energy-related master limited partnership IPO news, Valero Energy Partners went public yesterday raising $324.3 million, after underwriting discounts. It priced at $23/share, above its range. After some volatile spikes and dips, VLP closed at $28.02/share.

The company was formed by Valero Energy Corporation, the world’s largest independent oil and gas refiner, who will also own 100% of the company’s general partner, 72.5% of the limited partnership interests and all of “incentive distribution rights,” which are rights to receive a portion of the cash distributed from the company’s “operating surplus.”