Monty Bennett’s Braemar Hotels REIT Seeks Buyer

One of Monty Bennett’s publicly traded hotel firms is up for sale, with a portfolio that includes 14 properties across the country, and a sale would boost another hospitality firm helmed by Bennett.

Dallas-based Braemar Hotels and Resorts, a real estate investment trust, has seen its stock shares tumble to about a tenth of what they were in 2013, and it is more than $1.1 billion in debt, with about $473 million in stock, the Dallas Morning News reported. The company’s board of directors recently decided a sale was the best option to save shareholder value in the company. Braemar operates under brands such as Marriott’s Autograph collection, Hilton, Sofitel, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and others at properties from California to Florida.

Richard Stockton, CEO of Braemar said in a statement that the company is well-positioned to attract private investor interest, calling current economic conditions, such as limited room supply and healthy consumer spending, a favorable sales environment.

Financial advisor firm Robert W. Baird & Company was retained by Braemar to initiate the sales process.

“Hotel portfolios like the Braemar portfolio do not come to the market very often, and we believe the opportunity to acquire this iconic portfolio will attract significant buyer interest from around the world and result in an attractive valuation for shareholders,” Bennett said in a statement.

The sale of Braemar would prompt a $480 million payment to Ashford Hospitality Trust, of which Bennett is chairman of the board.

Braemar and Ashford were the subject of a bitter proxy battle with Blackwells Capital, an investor in both companies that aimed to oust Bennett from the board of Braemar last year. In the end, Braemar agreed to expand its board and drop a lawsuit against Blackwells, and Blackwells bought 3.5 million shares of Braemar, when it was trading for about $2.46 per share.

Ashford has been buying and selling hotels recently. Houston-based Ayrshire Corp. purchased the 242-key Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake from Ashford for $27 million last week, the Houston Business Journal reported. Ashford also recently sold a Residence Inn in Evansville, Indiana, for $6 million.

Ashford recently offered $32 million in cash for a beleaguered San Antonio downtown office building, intending to convert it to a hotel under the Autograph Collection Hotels banner.

Earlier this year, Bennett snagged a $580 million refinance on 16 Ashford hotels in Florida and California.

A special servicer recently said Ashford failed to refinance a distressed portfolio of 18 hotels in 13 states, but the company said it received a loan extension to January in hopes that interest rates will drop. The CMBS loan’s balance is $580 million.

Ashford Hospitality Trust, founded by Monty Bennett in 1968, owns 66 hotels in 21 states, according to its website. It went public in 2003.

— Eric Weilbacher