Quotes of the Week: Trinity, Outrigger, Aimbridge, EVT

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Historically, Braemar shares have traded at a significant NAV discount primarily due to the external advisory agreement with Ashford Inc., which has negatively impacted the company's cost of capital. Braemar has had numerous activists over the years, and the company previously has pursued strategic alternatives. This sales pursuit appears more geared toward a sale or liquidation given the agreed-upon $480 million (~$6.50/share) termination fee, in our view... Net, net – the termination fee clarity is a positive for prospective buyers, but the amount is a significant drag on the net per-share value that ultimately could accrue to BHR shareholders.” – Michael Bellisario, R.W. Baird   Read story

“There was obviously a dislocation between buyers and sellers in terms of cap rates and sales prices, but there seems to be a convergence now occurring where they’re converging around what the right cap rate is, which is holding in the 7% to 8% range on average. There’s a lot of credit capital out there, so debt financing is attainable for the right sponsors. I see transaction activity picking up going through the second half of this year into next year.” – Sean Hehir, Trinity Investments   Read story

“These transactions reflect our continued focus on creating shareholder value via multiple avenues. In addition to our GRO AHT effort aimed at driving increased performance, selling these two non-core assets has deleveraged the platform, improved the coverage metrics of our recently extended MS 17 loan pool, and increased portfolio cash flow after debt service. We anticipate pursuing similar opportunistic sales in the coming months.” – Stephen Zsigray, Ashford Hospitality Trust   Read story

“Every chance I can, I tell people that we are not, as an industry, stabilized. Anybody that says we are is really not being transparent. There are so many different dynamics that we’re all wrestling with every day.” – Jeff Wagoner, Outrigger Hospitality Group   Read story

“I’m honored to join Aimbridge at such a pivotal time. The select-service division is uniquely positioned to deliver exceptional value to owners and memorable experiences to guests. I look forward to working with our talented teams to build on the strong foundation already in place.” – Chris O’Donnell, Aimbridge Hospitality   Read story

“We are also hearing from the big global chains that they want to get out of management. Our strength has always been management.” – Norman Arundel, EVT Hotels & Resorts   Read story

“In Asia, a lot of hotel companies are actually more doing management contracts. But I think slowly and surely, the shift of mindset is to do more franchises as owners want to do more themselves. It is becoming more and more apparent.” – Kevin Gow, The Ascott Ltd.   Read story

“The India market is mature; the price points are at a level where it makes financial sense to develop luxury and lifestyle hotels in a more meaningful way. The evolution of the Indian economy, hospitality market and the Indian customer is probably the most important milestone in our strategy to double down on India.” – Gaurav Bhushan, Accor   Read story

“Look at growing your development business, or at least diversifying your revenue base in other markets. India’s as good of a place to start because it’s quite clear and not very convoluted. They speak English. Everyone speaks English, which is beautiful, and the rules are very clearly defined.” – Sundip Patel, Avana   Read story