PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE:HT) (“Hersha” or the “Company”), owner of high quality hotels in urban gateway markets and coastal destinations, today announced the sale of the Hyatt House in Gaithersburg, MD for $19.0 million and the Holiday Inn Express in Chester, NY for $8.4 million.
“We are pleased to announce the sale of these two non-core hotels as we continue to execute our business plan, selling older, suburban assets to focus our portfolio on younger, higher growth hotels in gateway markets and coastal destinations. The sale price represents a blended trailing twelve-month economic capitalization rate of 4.9% and a hotel EBITDA multiple of 16.8x. We re-deployed the proceeds of this sale in repurchases of our stock at a deep discount to private market value,” stated Mr. Jay H. Shah, Hersha’s Chief Executive Officer.
The sale resulted in taxable gains approximating $3.2 million. During the fourth quarter 2017, the Company repurchased $30.4 million of its stock or 1.7 million common shares on the open market. Since 2014, Hersha has repurchased $232.3 million in common shares, representing 21.8% of the float.
Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT) is a self-advised real estate investment trust in the hospitality sector that owns and operates high quality hotels in gateway markets and coastal destinations. The Company's 49 hotels totaling 7,584 rooms are located in New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and select markets on the West Coast. The Company's common shares are traded on The New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “HT”. For more information on the Company, and the Company’s hotel portfolio, please visit the Company's website at www.hersha.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and, as such, may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results or performance to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statement, including the completion of the sale of the Hyatt House in Gaithersburg, MD. For a description of these factors, please review the information under the heading “Risk Factors” included in Hersha Hospitality Trust’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and subsequent reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.