Ashford Acquires Westin O'Hare for $125 Million
September 07 2006 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Acquisition Highlights: DALLAS, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) announced it has signed
a definitive agreement to acquire the 525- room Westin O'Hare in
Rosemont, Illinois, for $125 million in cash ($238,095 per key)
from JER O'Hare Hotel, LLC, an affiliate of JER Partners. The
seller was represented by Molinaro Koger. Westin O'Hare is managed
by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide under a long-term
management agreement. The acquisition is expected to close within
70 days. On a trailing 12-month basis, the purchase price
represents a cap rate of 6.5% on net operating income and a 12.9x
EBITDA multiple. Ashford will fund the acquisition with proceeds
from its July 2006 follow-on offering and property-level debt. The
Westin O'Hare contains 525 rooms, 43,000 square feet of meeting
space and three food and beverage facilities. Opened in 1984, the
hotel completed a $14 million renovation in 2003 that included a
complete refurbishment of the guestrooms, lobby and a majority of
the meeting and function space. Ashford intends to invest an
additional $6.1 million over the next 24 months to further enhance
the guestrooms and bathrooms with new improvements such as soft
goods and flat panel TV's. Located on 11.5 acres, the hotel has
space for a potential expansion. The Westin O'Hare is the only
four-star, four-diamond hotel in the O'Hare submarket and boasts
the highest meeting space per guestroom ratio in the market. Monty
Bennett, President and CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust, said,
"Chicago is one of our targeted major markets, and we are pleased
to be able to secure what we believe is the best asset in the
O'Hare submarket at a price below replacement cost. O'Hare
International Airport is one of the world's busiest airports, and
the recent approval of a $15 billion expansion should provide
further economic stimulus to the local hotel market. The
surrounding Rosemont office and industrial submarkets create
additional diversified demand generators for the hotel. The Chicago
hotel market's recent strengthening and momentum is far from
complete with additional gains in RevPAR expected. With its strong
brand, excellent competitive location, high ratio of meeting space
and potential for future expansion, the Westin O'Hare is poised to
benefit greatly from Chicago's improving economic outlook." Ashford
Hospitality Trust is a self-administered real estate investment
trust focused on investing in the hospitality industry across all
segments and at all levels of the capital structure, including
direct hotel investments, first mortgages, mezzanine loans and
sale-leaseback transactions. Additional information can be found on
the Company's web site at http://www.ahtreit.com/. Certain
statements and assumptions in this press release contain or are
based upon "forward-looking" information and are being made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties. When we use the words "will
likely result," "may," "anticipate," "estimate," "should,"
"expect," "believe," "intend," or similar expressions, we intend to
identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, the timing of closing,
the expectation that the renovation will be completed in the next
24 months, the impact of the transaction on our business and future
financial condition, our business and investment strategy, our
understanding of our competition and current market trends and
opportunities and projected capital expenditures. Such statements
are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of
which are outside Ashford's control. These forward-looking
statements are subject to known and unknown risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation:
general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of
our common stock; changes in our business or investment strategy;
availability, terms and deployment of capital; availability of
qualified personnel; changes in our industry and the market in
which we operate, interest rates or the general economy; and the
degree and nature of our competition. These and other risk factors
are more fully discussed in Ashford's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. EBITDA is defined as net income before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA yield is
defined as trailing twelve month EBITDA divided by the purchase
price. A capitalization rate is determined by dividing the
property's annual net operating income by the purchase price. Net
operating income is the property's funds from operations minus a
capital expense reserve of 4% of gross revenues. Funds from
operations ("FFO"), as defined by the White Paper on FFO approved
by the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real
Estate Investment Trusts ("NAREIT") in April 2002, represents net
income (loss) computed in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles ("GAAP"), excluding gains (or losses) from
sales or properties and extraordinary items as defined by GAAP,
plus depreciation and amortization of real estate assets, and net
of adjustments for the portion of these items related to
unconsolidated entities and joint ventures. The forward-looking
statements included in this press release are only made as of the
date of this press release. Investors should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements. We are not obligated
to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
circumstances, changes in expectations or otherwise. DATASOURCE:
Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. CONTACT: Douglas Kessler, Chief
Operating Officer and Head of Acquisitions of Ashford Hospitality
Trust, Inc., +1-972-490-9600; or Tripp Sullivan of Corporate
Communications, Inc., +1-615-254-3376, for Ashford Hospitality
Trust, Inc. Web site: http://www.ahtreit.com/
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