Equity Inns, a US hotel REIT, has agreed to be bought by Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Street Global Real Estate for $2.2bn (£1.1bn), including debt, continuing a string of hotel-chain buyouts.
Equity Inns, which owns 132 hotels in 35 states, mostly serving the limited-service, extended-stay and all-suite hotels markets, is the third-largest hotel REIT based on number of hotels owned. Many of its hotels operate under the Hampton Inn name. Others include AmeriSuites, Holiday Inn and Residence Inn hotels.
Under the agreement, expected to close in the fourth quarter, Whitehall Street will pay $23 in cash for each Equity Inns share, which is a 19% premium to Wednesday's closing price of $19.36.
So far this year, five public hotel companies in the US have been taken private in transactions totalling $8.77bn (£4.4bn), including debt. Of the five companies, four were REITs. When private-to-private transactions are included, the number of acquisitions rises to $24.26bn (£12.15bn), including debt.
Merrill Lynch is acting as financial adviser to Equity Inns. Goldman, Sachs is advising Whitehall.
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