News for the Hospitality Executive |
Hotel Lawyer: The hotel transaction market is heating up!
By
Jim
Butler
and the Global Hospitality Group®,
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com April 26, 2011 The
transaction market is heating up, and I am still getting calls and
comments
about my interview with Eric Stoessel in the National Real Estate
Investor last
month, where we discussed how the hotel transaction market is poised
for a big
turnaround. I am
also getting calls about Meet
the
Money®, the hotel finance conference that will take place in
two weeks in
Los Angeles. Registrants want to know: will debt and equity players be
there?
(The answer is, yes!) But,
first things first. Hotel
Distress Buys: 'There's Something for Everyone Right Now' Eric
called me shortly after the $1.28 billon Ashford Hospitality Trust
joint-venture acquisition of Highland Hospitality's 28-hotel portfolio
deal
closed last month, He wanted to know if more portfolio sales like the
Ashford
Hospitality Trust deal would be coming online. What did I think? Hotel
values increased 10% to 15% in 2010 and prices are trending up.
Industry
fundamentals are improving, there is little new supply and there is
virtually
unlimited equity on the sideline. For opportunistic investors looking
for
value, it won't get better than this. The time is now! As I
told Eric in our interview: "We're less likely to see as many
bankruptcies and
foreclosures as we saw in the 1990s, but we're more likely to see
recapitalizations -- meaning fresh capital investments, discounted
payments,
note sales, restructuring arrangements -- where the new investor gets
the
lion's share or all the equity." Eric
and I discussed why how these kinds of deals are often good for the
borrower as
it may prevent negative tax consequences, or offer some forgiveness of
indemnity. Sometimes the original borrower is left with some real
economic
interest, but the ownership structure generally favors the capital
coming in.
We discussed why note sales often work for lenders and what kinds of
investors
are doing deals. We covered a lot of ground in a short interview. Click
here to read the National Real Estate Investor article entitled, Hotel
Distress Buys: 'There's Something for Everyone Right Now'. There
is no typical scenario for how investors and distressed borrowers come
together
to discuss distressed hotel deals, but you can be sure that providers
and
consumers of capital, and people looking to do deals will be at Meet
the Money®
2011, May 2-4, 2011 in Los Angeles. Meet
the Money® is one of the "most efficient" hotel investment
conferences. Attended by senior level executives, coming to "do
business,"
this conference is always a reliable venue for providers and consumers
of
capital. But the timing and the dynamics for the Conference this year
are
particularly exciting. After a long drought of transactions and
finance, deals
are back! Simply put, investment opportunities are not going to get
better than
this, so you need to figure out how to find transactions now, and
finance them
now. The
timing is NOW. Even a delay of a few weeks or months may mean you miss
out. To
get more information and register for Meet the Money®, go to www.MeetTheMoney.com. ________________________
________________________ Our
Perspective. We
represent hotel lenders,
owners and investors. We have helped our clients find business and
legal
solutions for more than $60 billion of hotel transactions, involving
more than
1,000 properties all over the world. For more information, please
contact Jim
Butler at [email protected]
or 310.201.3526. Jim
Butler is a founding partner of JMBM and Chairman of its Global
Hospitality
Group®. Jim is one of the top hospitality attorneys in the world.
GOOGLE
"hotel lawyer" and you will see why. JMBM's
troubled asset team has handled more than 1,000 receiverships and many
complex
insolvency issues. But Jim and his team are more than "just" great
hotel lawyers. They are also hospitality consultants and business
advisors. For
example, they have developed some unique proprietary approaches to
unlock value
in underwater hotels that can benefit lenders, borrowers and investors.
(GOOGLE
"JMBM SAVE program".) JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® The hotel lawyers in the Global Hospitality Group® of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell (JMBM) comprise the premier hospitality practice in a full-service law firm and are the authors of the Hotel Law Blog. We represent hotel owners, developers, investors and lenders and have helped our clients find business and legal solutions for more than $60 billion of hotel transactions, involving more than 1,000 properties worldwide. For more information about the Global Hospitality Group®, go to www.HotelLawBlog.com. For more information about full range of legal services provided by JMBM, go to www.JMBM.com. |
Contact:
Jim Butler
|