Ashford Hospitality Trust And Prudential Real Estate Investors
Complete $103 Million Financing On Hilton Boston Back Bay
DALLAS, Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashford
Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) today announced that the
Company, along with its joint venture partner, Prudential Real
Estate Investors, has closed a $103.0
million loan secured by the Hilton Boston Back Bay Hotel in
Boston, Massachusetts. This
hotel is part of the Company's Highland Hospitality Portfolio,
which is held in a joint venture with PREI®, of which Ashford has a
71.74% ownership interest. Terms described in this press
release refer to 100% of the loan indebtedness unless otherwise
indicated.
The new financing, which has a five-year term and bears interest
at a fixed interest rate of 4.38%, replaces an existing
$63.0 million loan on the property
with a fixed interest rate of 5.96%. At closing, $31.9 million of the excess loan proceeds were
used to pay down the mezzanine debt balance on the overall Highland
Hospitality Portfolio, which had an average interest rate of 8.4%,
thereby achieving annual interest savings of approximately
$2.0 million.
"We continue to take advantage of the current favorable interest
rate environment and attractive debt capital markets, allowing us
to further decrease our annual interest expense on the Highland
Hospitality Portfolio." said Monty J.
Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of Ashford Hospitality
Trust. "We are also actively pursuing early refinancing of
other hotel assets to lower our interest rate and obtain excess
proceeds. This strategy is succeeding in reducing near term
refinancing risk while increasing the weighted average maturity of
our loans. We hope to have an update soon on the progress of
our other refinancing initiatives, including the Renaissance
Nashville and Westin Princeton loans. As always, we remain
keenly focused on maximizing value for our shareholders."
Ashford 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.
Additional information can be found on the Company's website
at 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 for closing, 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
either 4% or 5% 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 of 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.
SOURCE Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc.