Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust 8.25% Series A Cum PFD (EHPTP)

[ChuckD-MSB]

*Chuck is doing a happy dance.

[ChuckD-MSB]

I noticed that also, hope our 2 board member friends don't get in trouble.

[Enterprising Investor]

Market price and volume increased prior to announcement date.

[ChuckD-MSB]

Market seems to like the news, I know I do.

Need to do some research and try and get a handle on what the properties may be worth, would also love to know just what the "discount" is for re-payment.

I am hoping they manage to come up with at least 40 million out of the sales (potentially in the billions)

If so, that would mean about 10 bucks a share for us.

[Enterprising Investor]

Eagle Hospitality Seeks to Sell Its 13 Hotels

3,538 Rooms Operating Under Premium Brands in Desirable Markets

Purchase, N.Y. - September 10, 2012 - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust ("Eagle Hospitality") announced today that it has reached an agreement with its secured lender that allows the Company to sell its 13 premium-branded hotels and repay its secured debt at a discount. Eagle Hospitality will be considering offers from investors interested in some or all of the hotels in the portfolio.

"The Embassy Suites, Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt-branded properties are experiencing excellent growth and are well-positioned in their markets," said Marc Beilinson, Managing Director of Beilinson Advisory Group and Eagle Hospitality's Chief Restructuring Officer. "Purchasers will have the flexibility to appoint their own management at 11 of the 13 properties without termination expense."

Located in desirable Midwestern markets including Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, and in attractive growth markets such as Boston and Denver, the properties have been well-maintained with $77 million in capital expenditures since 2008. For the trailing 12 months ended July 2012, the hotels as a portfolio achieved:

• An average daily rate of $126

• An average occupancy rate of 75.4%

• Growth of revenue per available room (RevPAR) of 7.1% and

• EBITDA growth of 15.9%.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for investors to acquire high-performing assets amid a historically low-cost market for borrowing," Beilinson said. "The hotels are poised to continue growing revenue and earnings and to exploit certain revenue enhancement and expense savings opportunities."

The Company has retained Lazard Frères & Co. LLC as its exclusive financial advisor. Interested parties should contact Phillip Summers at [phone] or [e-mail].

Eagle Hospitality's Properties:

Cincinnati Landmark Marriott (321 rooms)
Chicago Marriott Southwest at Burr Ridge (184 rooms)
Hyatt Regency Rochester (336 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel Columbus/Dublin (284 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel Cleveland/Rockside (271 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel Boston at Logan International Airport (273 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel Denver-International Airport (174 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel Phoenix-Scottsdale (270 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel Tampa-Airport/Westshore (243 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel & Casino San Juan (299 rooms)
Embassy Suites Hotel Cincinnati-RiverCenter (226 rooms)
Hilton Glendale (351 rooms)
Hilton Cincinnati Airport (306 rooms)

###
Media Contact
Sitrick And Company
Lance Ignon
Thom Weidlich
[phone]

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

[Enterprising Investor]

Eagle Hospitality, Blackstone Reach Compromise: Sell Instead of Foreclose (9/10/12)

By Kris Hudson

Eagle Hospitality’s Hilton hotel in Glendale, Calif.Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, owner of 13 upscale U.S. hotels including the Cincinnati Landmark Marriott, struck a deal with its debt holder to avoid foreclosure.

Eagle and Blackstone Group agreed to a compromise to be announced Monday in which Eagle will market the 13 properties for sale. Blackstone will accept as payment an undisclosed sum that is less than the mortgage’s face amount but still more than what Blackstone paid to buy the loan earlier this year. Any proceeds in excess of Blackstone’s take will be divided among Eagle’s other creditors and equity holders.

All told, Eagle’s hotel portfolio spans 3,538 rooms. It includes eight Embassy Suites hotels, the Hilton Cincinnati Airport and the Chicago Marriott Southwest at Burr Ridge. The portfolio registered an average rate of $126 and average occupancy of 75.4% in the past year. Revenue per available room increased by 7.1% in that time.

Eagle, which is owned by private equity firm AREA Property Partners, had faced a due date Sunday for the $606 million mortgage on its properties. Eagle was in a bind because it couldn’t refinance the mortgage, given that the value of the hotels had declined markedly since AREA bought Eagle in 2007.

In addition, Blackstone bought Eagle’s mortgage at a discount last May from Maiden Lane, the Federal Reserve-controlled entity overseeing the assets and loans of now-defunct Bear Stearns. Blackstone could have moved to foreclose on Eagle’s hotels once the mortgage’s due date passed without payment this week.

Marc Beilinson, Eagle’s chief restructuring officer, declined to say how long Eagle’s sales process will last. “It’s a great outcome that is beneficial and allows Eagle to enter a robust, wide-ranging marketing program with the opportunity of paying off Blackstone at a meaningful discount” to the debt’s face value, he said.

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2012/09/10/eagle-hospitality-blackstone-reach-compromise-sell-instead-of-foreclose/

[ChuckD-MSB]

EAGLE HOSPITALITY PROPERTIES TRUST, INC. ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF ITS 2012 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
PURCHASE, NY, June 14, 2012 - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the "Company"), today announced that on June 12, 2012 it held its 2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders in New York (the "Annual Meeting"). At the Annual Meeting, each of the five nominees for election by the sole holder of the Company's common stock, $0.01 par value per share, was elected to hold office until the next annual meeting of stockholders and until his successor is duly elected and qualifies.

At the Annual Meeting, a majority of the Company's outstanding 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, $0.01 par value per share ("Series A Preferred Shares"), was not present, in person or by proxy, and, as a result, a quorum was not present for the purpose of electing two directors to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Preferred Directors") pursuant to the terms of the Series A Preferred Shares. Therefore and in accordance with Maryland law, Lauren Krueger and Andrew Sole, the current Preferred Directors, will continue to serve until their successors are duly elected and qualify, or until all accumulated dividends on the Series A Preferred Shares are paid. Ms. Krueger was elected as a Preferred Director at the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Mr. Sole replaced Martin J. Bienenstock as a Preferred Director on May 14, 2012.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

[Enterprising Investor]

Accrued unpaid dividends to 6/30/12 are $7.73 per share.

[56Chevy]

Accrued unpaid dividends to 6/30/11 are $5.67 per share.

Nearly one year later since we discussed this - Accrued unpaid dividends are now?

[Enterprising Investor]

EHPTP Fails to Declare Second Quarter Dividend (6/07/12)

Purchase, NY (June 7, 2012) - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. today announced that it will not declare a second quarter 2012 dividend with respect to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares due to the continuation of the depressed economic environment for hotel operations.

Please refer to the Articles of Incorporation of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) and Articles Supplementary of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) for a description of the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares.

Certain information relating to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares can be found on the company's website at www.eaglehospitality.com.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

[Enterprising Investor]

Hotel Fundamentals and Sales Improve

Tucker, Michael
Hotel average daily rates continued upward in April, setting near-record growth margins over 2011 rates, reported hotel technology firm Pegasus Solutions, Dallas.

North American corporate hotel rates set a new year-over-year growth record, increasing 9.3 percent over last April, beating February's previous record increase. Overall rates including corporate, business travel and leisure travel increased 7.3 percent year-over-year.

"A common misstep many hotels made in 2001 and 2008 when bookings fell was to automatically abandon strategy and slash rates," said Mike Kistner, CEO of Pegasus Solutions. "April’s numbers show that corporate rates paid in April 2012 were higher than four of the five previous years, and just shy of three percentage points of those paid in 2008."

"Hotels are staying true to their product, not only maintaining rates, but also driving them back to where they need to be," Kistner added. "Combined with bookings growth, this rate growth has corporate revenue up by double digits over all five previous years."

With operating fundamentals strong, U.S. hotel transaction volume reached its second-highest volume over the past four years, with $5.1 billion in assets changing hands through May, reported Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, Chicago.

"The volume of capital flowing to hotel real estate remains high as acquisitive investors enthusiastically seek opportunities to buy hotels," said Arthur Adler, Americas CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. "Underpinning investor confidence is the continued strength in hotel operating fundamentals, which are solid across all metrics. On a national basis, hotel revenue per available room has maintained the strong growth rate posted in 2011."

The average price per key for single-asset transactions rose five percent compared to full-year 2011 levels to top $194,000, which Adler said "far exceeds the average price per key recorded over the past several years, and emphasizes the strength of hotel fundamentals and high level of investor interest."

The first five months of 2012 represent the second-highest start to a year since 2008, only exceeded by the first five months of 2011 when total transaction volume reached $6.4 billion, largely because real estate investment trusts dominated $100-million-plus prime urban asset purchases.

Unlike early 2011, private equity dominated REIT purchases this time around. "Private equity investors continue to make headlines and account for 52 percent of transaction volume, followed by real estate investment trusts, as the second most acquisitive group, representing 25 percent of purchases by volume," said Adler. But he added that REITs remain active bidders for a number of hotel transactions and he expects them to become increasingly active in the rest of the year.

http://www.mortgagebankers.org/tools/FullStory.aspx?ArticleId=31637#full

[Enterprising Investor]

Bankruptcy Beat Snapshot: Martin Bienenstock (5/25/12)

By Rachel Feintzeig

After spending 35 years helping to fix troubled companies such as General Motors, Texaco and Owens Corning, Martin Bienenstock got the hands-on experience he never wanted.

With Dewey & LeBoeuf, his home from 2007 until earlier this month, descending into a free-fall, the firm’s signature restructuring guru turned his expertise on the business he knows best.

“When I restructure a company, I always become personally involved and it becomes a personal mission to get the best result,” he said.

But when the main assets you’re trying to hang on to are your fellow partners, the business you’ve practiced all your life can take on a new meaning.

“It did feel a little different,” Bienenstock said.

On May 14, the bankruptcy attorney joined Proskauer Rose LLP and is now the head of its business solutions, governance, restructuring and bankruptcy group. The transition capped off a “surreal,” “whirlwind” few months, where he and three fellow attorneys first tried to save the firm, then tried to orchestrate a traditional merger and ultimately were left with a plan C—finding separate, new homes for large groups of partners, associates and other staff. Though Bienenstock knows he failed to execute the optimal outcome—preserving a venerable law firm, itself the product of a merger between two firms that date back to the early 20th century—he thinks his team did a good job of preserving the interests of creditors, clients and the constituency closest to him: staff.

“If we had simply given up, then there would have been the maximum loss of jobs and unemployed people. Client matters would have suffered horribly and creditors would have gotten or would get the worst possible returns,” he said.

Initially, Bienenstock thought that “all of the ingredients were there” to execute a successful restructuring. But he soon got to see a “death spiral” up close and personal. Dewey & LeBoeuf was $30 million short on revenue for 2011—“not by itself the end of the world,” Bienenstock said—and also had a $100 million revolver loan maturing in April 2012. Amid concern about the loan, twelve partners in the firm’s insurance mergers and acquisitions group made their exit.

“It was an emotional hit because insurance M&A had been a signature practice of the LeBoeuf firm,” Bienenstock said.

Meanwhile, many partners in the firm were in an uproar over pay they’d been promised but never received. Bienenstock himself wasn’t paid for some six months, he said. But he views his work trying to revive the fir, and ultimately softening the blow of its failure, as a way of giving back to a profession he loves.

“After [practicing bankruptcy law] for 35 years and after having had the time of my life for 35 years, it certainly wasn’t too much to ask to spend whatever time could be spent trying to help,” Bienenstock said.

Not that Bienenstock always had plans to spend decades in the legal industry. He was always focused on a career in business, he said, until he arrived at bankruptcy powerhouse Weil, Gotshal & Manges as an associate and got hooked on restructuring.

“I went to law school from college not intending to practice law one day in my life,” he said. “I’m 35 years behind on my career plan.”

All these decades later, he’s still learning—even from tough situations like the unraveling of Dewey.

“I think there’s an overall lesson for law firms that leverage is dangerous,” he said.” “I think you just can’t take leverage lightly in a business where your most valuable assets go home every night.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2012/05/25/bankruptcy-beat-snapshot-martin-bienenstock/?mod=WSJBlog

[Enterprising Investor]

Beilinson Advisory Group

Mr. Beilinson is the Managing Partner of Beilinson Advisory Group, a financial restructuring and hospitality advisory group that specializes in assisting distressed companies. He is currently the Chief Restructuring Officer/CEO of Innkeepers USA, a hotel company comprising approximately 10,000 rooms, and has held this position since November 2008. Mr. Beilinson also serves on the Audit Committee and Board of Directors of Innkeepers USA and as the President of MMD Acquisition Corporation, his personal real estate investment company.

In 2007, Mr. Beilinson retired from Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl & Jones, a nationally recognized boutique law firm specializing in corporate reorganization, where he had practiced since 1992. During Mr. Beilinson’s 25years of practice, he spearheaded the operational and financial restructuring of nationally recognized companies such as American Rice, LogoAthelics, TreeSweet Juice Company, Coco’s restaurants, Carrow’s restaurants, General Cinemas, Loews Cineplex, Wherehouse Entertainment and DirecTV Latin America.

Throughout his career, Mr. Beilinson has been active in the restructuring of complex commercial and retail real estate portfolios throughout the United States and has also specialized in restructuring retail chains. He was named one of the top 10 young restructuring lawyers in the nation by Turnarounds and Workouts magazine and was annually named as a Super Lawyer by national publications prior to his retirement. Mr. Beilinson has previously served on the Board of Directors of Wyndham Hotels and Apollo Real Estate Commercial Mortgage Inc., and also on the non-profit Board of Directors of University of California Davis School of Law. Mr. Beilinson has lectured and been published on turnaround issues and served as an Adjunct Professor at Southwestern University School of Law from 1985 to 1993. Mr. Beilinson graduated from UCLA, magna cum laude, where he was elected student body president, and from UC Davis Law School.

Contact Information
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

http://www.beilinsonadvisorygroup.com/bio-marc-beilinson.aspx

[Enterprising Investor]

Going for Broke (3/24/03)

http://www.pszjlaw.com/media/news/385_Going%20for%20Broke.pdf

[Enterprising Investor]

Apollo slammed (9/09/10)

Bankruptcy judge calls out hotel owner for cozy deal

By KAJA WHITEHOUSE

An investment firm managed by Leon Black's Apollo Global Management got slammed by a US Bankruptcy Court judge for hammering out an inside deal to restructure a hotel company it controls in a way that would only benefit itself and a single other creditor, according to a newly released transcript showing the details of the judge's ruling.

"This is not what Chapter 11 is supposed to be about," judge Shelley Chapman said in an unusually harsh critique last week before smacking down the restructuring, according to a transcript of the ruling obtained by The Post.

At issue is a prepackaged bankruptcy plan for Innkeepers, a real estate investment trust that owns 72 hotels under brands such as Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott.

The plan called for one of Innkeepers' secured creditors, the estate of bankrupt brokerage firm Lehman Brothers, to get all the equity in the new, reorganized company and then to turn around and sell half of its stake to the investment firm, Apollo Investment Corp., at the bargain-basement price of $107.5 million.

All other investors, including David Tepper's hedge fund Appaloosa and the preferred shareholders, would be left holding the bag. They howled in protest and brought the issue before the judge -- who ruled in their favor.

Chapman ripped into the deal, saying it lacked "due care," "good faith" and "disinterestedness."

"The intention for Apollo [Investment Corp.] to end up with half of the debtors' equity. . . has been, at best, downplayed and, at worst, obfuscated from parties-in-interest," she said.

Black's investment firm Apollo Global Management manages Apollo Investment Corp., the fund that owns Innkeepers. AIC owns the bankrupt Innkeepers through an affiliate, but Chapman described AIC as Innkeepers' "ultimate parent."

Lehman provided AIC with a $1.2 billion loan in 2007 to help buy Innkeepers.

Chapman also had harsh comments for Marc Beilinson, Innkeepers' chief restructuring officer and a director of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, another fund managed by Apollo Global Management. She found some of his testimony to lack credibility.

The judge also slammed Beilinson for barring any party besides Lehman to conduct due diligence on the entity.

"Innkeepers is taking the court's comment seriously and intends to be responsive to the court's concerns," Beilinson told The Post, adding that the company is "preparing to meet with all constituents in order to build consensus in the restructuring process."

"We will return to the drawing board and find a deal that is doable," said Bryan Marsal, CEO of Lehman.

An Apollo Global Management executive declined to comment citing the judge's orders. [e-mail]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/apollo_slammed_hyOpkSLkdLvoYnVjaovkXI#ixzz1w7dUqIO9http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/apollo_slammed_hyOpkSLkdLvoYnVjaovkXI

[Enterprising Investor]

EHPT Update on Preferred Director Nominees (5/23/12)

Purchase, NY (May 23, 2012) - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the "Company"), has received nominations from Esopus Creek Value Series Fund LP ("Esopus") of two individuals for election to the Board of Directors of the Company, pursuant to the terms of the Company's 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, $0.01 par value per share (the "Preferred Directors"). The names of and biographical information for the two nominees are listed below. The information was provided to the Company by Esopus and has not been independently verified by the Company. Ms. Krueger was elected as a Preferred Director at the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Mr. Sole replaced Martin J. Bienenstock as a Preferred Director on May 14, 2012.

No other nominations for Preferred Director were received by May 20, 2012, the extended deadline for submission of nominees, and therefore no other nominees for Preferred Directors will be considered at the Annual Meeting.

As previously noticed, the Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at 11:00 a.m., local time, in Conference Room 37D at the offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Four Times Square, New York, New York 10036. The Company is not soliciting or requesting proxies.

1. Lauren Krueger

Ms. Krueger, age 37, is a managing member and joined Esopus Creek Advisors LLC, the general partner of Esopus in April 2010 and has been a Director of the Company since its 2011 Annual Meeting. Most recently, Ms. Krueger was a vice president in the credit-related opportunities unit of D.E. Shaw Group, a global investment and technology development firm with approximately $19 billion in investment capital. She joined the D.E. Shaw Group in 2003 and became a vice president in 2006. During her tenure at the D.E. Shaw Group, Ms. Krueger invested in distressed and deep value securities, in both the public and private markets. She served on the Board of Directors and as the Chief Restructuring Officer of FAO Schwarz Inc., a prominent toy retailer, and on the Board of Directors of The Boyds Collection, LTD. (private equity holdings of the D.E. Shaw Group). Prior to her work at the D.E. Shaw Group, Ms. Krueger was an associate in the restructuring group at Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, an investment bank, from 2002 to 2003. From October 2006 until March 2010, Ms. Krueger served on the Board of Kid Brands, Inc. (formerly known as Russ Berrie and Company, Inc.), a public company that through its subsidiaries, designs and markets branded infant and juvenile products, where she was a member of the executive and compensation committees. Ms. Krueger received her MBA from Columbia University, where she was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society, and her A.B. in Economics from Princeton University.

2. Andrew L. Sole

Mr. Sole is founder and managing member of Esopus Creek Advisors LLC, the general partner of Esopus. Prior to the founding of Esopus in August 2005, Mr. Sole was a managing member at two predecessor funds, Esopus Creek Partners LLC and Esopus Creek Capital LLC, from March 2003 until July 2005. Mr. Sole has over twenty years of investment management experience, including investments in distressed and non-distressed assets. During his tenure at Esopus, Mr. Sole has represented the Fund in various bankruptcy cases including the Official Creditors Committees of Refco Inc., Fedders Inc., and Six Flags, Inc. and has served on the Official Committee of Equity Holders in the USG Corp. bankruptcy case. Mr. Sole is a licensed attorney in the State of New York. He received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University where he graduated cum laude and was a member of the Order of the Coif honor society. Mr. Sole received his B.S. in Mathematics from Union College in Schenectady, New York.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

[Enterprising Investor]

EHPT Hires Marc Beilinson as Chief Restructuring Officer (5/21/12)

PURCHASE, NY (May 21, 2012) - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. today announced that it has hired Marc Beilinson as its Chief Restructuring Officer.

Mr. Beilinson is the Managing Partner of Beilinson Advisory Group, a financial restructuring and hospitality advisory group that specializes in assisting distressed companies. He recently served as the Chief Restructuring Officer/CEO of Innkeepers USA, a hotel company comprising approximately 10,000 rooms, and held this position since November 2008. In 2007, Mr. Beilinson retired from Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl & Jones, a nationally recognized boutique law firm specializing in corporate reorganization, where he had practiced since 1992. During Mr. Beilinson's 25years of practice, he spearheaded the operational and financial restructuring of nationally recognized companies such as American Rice, LogoAthelics, TreeSweet Juice Company, Coco's restaurants, Carrow's restaurants, General Cinemas, Loews Cineplex, Wherehouse Entertainment and DirecTV Latin America. Throughout his career, Mr. Beilinson has been active in the restructuring of complex commercial and retail real estate portfolios throughout the United States and has also specialized in restructuring retail chains.

Information regarding the company can be found on its website at www.eaglehospitality.com.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, [phone]

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

[Enterprising Investor]

Blackstone Lodges Several Hotel Moves (5/22/12)

By KRIS HUDSON And CRAIG KARMIN

Blackstone Group LP, one of the world's largest hotel investors, is playing both offense and defense these days as the lodging industry slowly recovers from the downturn.

On offense, the private-equity giant continues to load up on new properties. Blackstone on Tuesday agreed to buy the Motel 6 discount lodging chain from the French hotel company Accor SA in a deal valued at $1.9 billion. The transaction mirrored an acquisition by Blackstone earlier this month of a $606 million mortgage coming due on the 13-hotel Eagle Hospitality portfolio.

Meantime, Blackstone has been shoring up the balance sheets of major hotel purchases it made before the bust. In the latest example of such a defensive move, the firm restructured and pared down the debt on the La Quinta Corp. chain that it purchased in 2006 for $3.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Blackstone's deal engine is getting stoked by its success at fundraising, which is surpassing other private-equity firms. The firm has raised more than $10 billion for a real-estate fund that could reach $12 billion by year-end.

Blackstone has been using that cash to buy and restructure a wide range of property types including office, retail and industrial. But it clearly has a sweet spot for hotels these days, believing that at this point in the cycle lodgings are benefiting from rising room rates and little new supply.

Blackstone also owns Hilton Worldwide Inc. and a large stake in Extended Stay Inc. Once the Motel 6 deal closes, scheduled for October, the firm's properties will range in price from the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan, where single rooms currently start at $419, to the Motel 6 in Avoca, Iowa, near exit 40 of Interstate-80, which was charging $49.99.

Motel 6 was started 50 years ago by two building contractors in Santa Barbara, Calif., taking its name from its original nightly rate: $6. The chain counts more than 1,000 hotels, including 604 of its own properties and 483 franchise assets.

Blackstone plans to upgrade the Motel 6 properties it is acquiring and expand the franchise base, according to a Blackstone executive. The acquisition price breaks down to about $25,000 per room, which analysts say is below replacement cost.

Besides buying hotels directly, Blackstone has been adding to its portfolio by taking advantage of the distress of others. In the Eagle deal, Blackstone this month agreed to pay roughly $465 million for a $606 million mortgage coming due in September on the 13-hotel portfolio, according to people familiar with the matter. The seller was the Federal Reserve-controlled Maiden Lane fund, which inherited several loans from Bear Stearns Co. when the Fed brokered the failed investment bank's sale to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 2008.

The Eagle portfolio is owned by real-estate fund manager AREA Property Partners, which bought it in 2007. However, the portfolio's mortgage comes due in September, and Blackstone's purchase amounts to a bet that AREA will fail to refinance, pay or extend the loan, allowing Blackstone to foreclose.

"As a fiduciary, we are ensuring that the company explores all options to protect the interests of all stakeholders, including a restructuring of the debt before the maturity this fall," said an AREA representative. "The company is currently meeting its debt service obligations and expects to do so through maturity."

Blackstone's cash also has come in handy when restructuring its post-downturn deals. To restructure the debt on the 822-hotel La Quinta chain, the firm paid down $150 million in debt and went into the market and bought $265 million in junior debt and retired it.

Finally, Blackstone extended the $2.65 billion in debt outstanding to July 2014 by agreeing to pay an interest rate 3.5 percentage points higher than under the previous terms. That debt, which was mostly carved up into commercial mortgage-backed securities and sold to investors, had been due to expire in July 2012.

The La Quinta restructuring is similar to what Blackstone did with its only larger hotel holding, Hilton Worldwide, in 2010. Blackstone spent roughly $800 million to buy $2 billion of Hilton's debt at a discount and retire it. It then converted other debt to preferred equity, cutting Hilton's debt load to $16 billion from $20 billion and pushing its due date to 2015.

Blackstone bought time with the Hilton restructuring to wait for better conditions to take the chain public and cash out of its investment. In recent comments, Blackstone executives have said that volatility in Europe, the impending U.S. presidential election and the fitful economic recovery in the U.S. make 2012 too uncertain for many public offerings or asset sales.

"You want to sell your assets when markets are strong and you get good prices," Blackstone President Tony James said during an April 19 conference call to discuss the firm's first quarter results. "So, we're building value in our investments and in our real estate. We're supposed to be smart about when we harvest that value. And it hasn't looked to us like the greatest of times yet."

Write to Kris Hudson at [e-mail]

http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303610504577420371037163302.html?mod=residential_real_estate&mg=reno64-wsj

[Enterprising Investor]

EHPTP Announces Resignation of Martin J. Bienenstock and Election of Andrew L. Sole (5/15/12)

PURCHASE, NEW YORK, May 15, 2012 - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the "Company"), announced that Martin J. Bienenstock notified the Board of Directors of the Company yesterday that he was resigning from the Board effective immediately because of a change in his employment. Lauren Krueger, managing member of Esopus Creek Advisors LLC and the remaining director of the Company elected by the holders of Company's 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, has elected Andrew L. Sole to fill the vacancy effective immediately. Mr. Sole's qualifications, as provided to the Company by Ms. Krueger, are set forth below. Esopus Creek Value Series Fund LP ("Esopus" or "Fund") notified the Board that it plans to nominate Mr. Sole, along with Ms. Krueger, for re-election at the Company's 2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Mr. Sole is founder and managing member of Esopus Creek Advisors LLC, the general partner of Esopus. Prior to the founding of Esopus in August 2005, Mr. Sole was a managing member at two predecessor funds, Esopus Creek Partners LLC and Esopus Creek Capital LLC, from March 2003 until July 2005. Mr. Sole has over twenty years of investment management experience, including investments in distressed and non-distressed assets. During his tenure at Esopus, Mr. Sole has represented the Fund in various bankruptcy cases including the Official Creditors Committees of Refco Inc., Fedders Inc., and Six Flags, Inc. and has served on the Official Committee of Equity Holders in the USG Corp. bankruptcy case. Mr. Sole is a licensed attorney in the State of New York. He received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University where he graduated cum laude and was a member of the Order of the Coif honor society. Mr. Sole received his B.S. in Mathematics from Union College in Schenectady, New York.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

[Enterprising Investor]

Hotel Revenue, Profits Increase

Tucker, Michael
Nearly three-fourths of American hotels saw higher bottom-line profits last year, reported PKF Hospitality Research, San Francisco.

The firm's survey of nearly 7,000 hotels nationwide reported 6.2 percent total revenue growth compared to the year before. Rooms revenue grew 7.1 percent, mostly because of an increase in the average daily rate. Among other hotel revenue sources, food and beverage sales increased 5.2 percent while rental and other income revenue grew 3.2 percent. Revenue from other departments, including retail, laundry and telecommunications, increased 0.9 percent.

Expenses grew 4.3 percent. "While the…growth in expenses was greater than the 3.2 percent rise in inflation for the year, it is relatively modest compared to the increases in hotel operating expenses observed during the second year of previous industry recoveries," the 2012 Trends in the Hotel Industry report said.

The top 25 U.S. account for nearly one-third of all U.S. hotel rooms and 42 percent of all hotel revenue dollars, said Jan Freitag, senior vice president of global development for Smith Travel Research, Nashville. He said the top 25 markets saw greater room-rate discounting than smaller-market hotels during the Great Recession.

"But in the last few years the rebound [from these discounted rates] was somewhat more anemic than expected given past behavior," Freitag said. "For investors and owners this probably still means that if you can time the recovery correctly--granted, that's a big 'if.' The upside for average daily rate and profit increases is still highest in the top 25 largest markets."

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, Chicago, reported that Miami's hotel transaction volume reached its highest level since 2005 as sales jumped 154 percent last year to $557 million. The real estate services firm expects high investor interest in the No. 14 market throughout 2012 and projects transaction volumes to increase another 17 percent over 2011 volumes.

"Miami's hotel market posted one of the highest rates of revenue per available room growth of any major gateway market in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2012," said Gregory Rumpel, managing director with Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. "Strong leisure and business demand and constrained supply additions drove up premiums as well, as the city recorded the second-greatest nominal average daily rate growth rate of 44 percent over the past decade, second only to New York."

http://www.mortgagebankers.org/Newsletters/MBA%20Newslink/Issues/Volume11Issue97_web#31245

[Enterprising Investor]

Report Cites 'Widespread' Hotel Profit Recovery

Tucker, Michael
American hotels saw their profits increase 12.7 percent in 2011, reported PKF Hospitality Research, San Francisco.

More than 80 percent of the nearly 7,000 properties PKF surveyed enjoyed an increase in total revenue, while nearly three-quarters--72.3 percent--achieved growth in profits, which PKF defines as net operating income before deductions for capital reserves, rent, interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization.

"The good news is not isolated to a select few property categories, but rather, all hotel types were able to enjoy gains on the bottom line," said R. Mark Woodworth, president of PKF Hospitality Research.

Resort hotels led other types with an 18.1 percent NOI gain, followed by full-service hotels, which posted a 14.7 percent increase in profits. "Not surprisingly, these two property types also achieved the greatest gains in average daily room rates from 2010 to 2011," Woodworth said.

Both extended-stay and full-service suite hotels lagged in profit growth. Woodworth said they struggled to leverage their lofty occupancy levels into the kind of average daily room rate gain needed to increase profitability.

"While news of growing profits is welcome, longer-term U.S. hotel owners know that their investment still has a ways to go to achieve the annual dividends that were earned prior to the recent recession," Woodworth said. He said the average hotel surveyed achieved a profit equal to $12,972 per available room in 2011; roughly 25 percent short in nominal dollars of the peak profit levels achieved in 2007.

Looking ahead, Smith Travel Research, Nashville, forecasts "strong performance results" during this year's peak travel months of June, July and August. The research firm said occupancy for those three months combined could rise 1.8 percent to 69 percent, the average daily rate could increase 3.9 percent to $106.64 and revenue per available room could increase 5.7 percent to $73.59.

"Leisure travel this summer will add to the already compelling demand storyline for the hotel industry," said Brad Garner, chief operating office with Smith Travel Research. "Consumers should expect to pay 4 percent higher rates on average for hotel rooms."

http://www.mortgagebankers.org/tools/FullStory.aspx?ArticleId=30874#full

[ChuckD-MSB]

Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. Sets June 2012 as date of annual meeting of stockholders

PURCHASE, NY April 25, 2012 - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the "Company"), today announced the date of the 2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting"). The Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at 11:00 a.m., local time, in Conference Room 37D at the offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Four Times Square, New York, New York 10036. The Board of Directors has fixed the close of business on April 24, 2012 as the record date for the determination of stockholders of the Company entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting.

The purposes of the Annual Meeting are: (1) for the holders of the Company's 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares ("Series A Preferred Shares") to elect two directors to the Company's Board of Directors; (2) for the holders of the Company's common stock, $0.01 par value per share, to elect five directors to the Company's Board of Directors; and (3) to transact such other business as may properly come before the Annual Meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof.

The Board of Directors has extended the time period permitted in the Bylaws of the Company for nominations for director by the holders of Series A Preferred Shares from ten days from this public announcement to the close of business on May 20, 2012. Such nominations should be sent to the Secretary of the Company at 2 Manhattanville Road, Purchase, New York 10577. Any stockholder's nomination shall include (1) the name, age and address of the stockholder and the nominee, a summary of the qualifications of the nominee to serve as a director and a statEement of the number of Series A Preferred Shares that are owned beneficially or of record by the stockholder and the nominee; (2) a certificate from the nominee confirming his or her willingness to serve as a director and that he or she meets the director qualification requirements set forth in the Bylaws of the Company; and (3) any other information required by the Bylaws of the Company.

Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. is not soliciting proxies in connection with the Annual Meeting, and holders of Series A Preferred Shares are requested not to send a proxy to Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. in connection with the Annual Meeting.

Please refer to the charter of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation), including the Articles Supplementary of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) for a description of the Series A Preferred Shares and to the Bylaws for a description of the procedures for nominating a director. A copy of the charter and Bylaws, and certain information relating to the Series A Preferred Shares, can be found on the Company's website at Eagle Hospitality.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

[Enterprising Investor]

Rowdy Class of 2007 Is Causing Problems (4/04/12)

Five-year loans made at the height of the boom in 2007 are coming due this year, and so far the results aren't pretty.

In the first quarter of this year, about $9.5 billion worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities that were originated in 2007 came due, according to Trepp LLC. Only 38% were paid off without any losses to debtholders, according to Trepp.

About 9% were paid off at a loss to debtholders. Another 43% are still outstanding, with borrowers and lenders still trying to figure out a course of action. The large volume of loans outstanding reflects a funding environment still unforgiving of the loose underwriting practices of the past.

A total of $20 billion in loans made in 2007 come due this year. The first quarter results "were not worse than expected, but that being said, they're not good," said Manus Clancy a Trepp senior managing director.

Mr. Clancy predicted that as class-of-2007 loans continue to mature this year, more than 50% of them will be outstanding after their maturity dates. That is at the higher end of analyst expectations of what would have trouble paying off from the 2007 vintage, he said.

—Al Yoon

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304750404577322013358741268.html?KEYWORDS=rowdy+class

[Enterprising Investor]

FRBNY Grants EHPT Meeting to Restructure Loans (3/30/12)

PURCHASE, NY - March 30, 2012 - Representatives of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. ("Eagle") announced today that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ("FRBNY") had granted them a meeting regarding their request to restructure a portfolio of commercial real estate loans secured by Eagle's hotel properties and related assets. At the meeting, a possible means of restructuring was discussed between FRBNY and Eagle. The loans, which mature in September 2012, were acquired by FRBNY from Bear Stearns as part of the United States government's acquisition of certain Bear Stearns' assets in JPMorgan Chase's takeover of Bear Stearns in 2008.

A restructuring of the loans could be beneficial for all the loan parties and to third parties, including investors and hotel workers, whose livelihood and investments are tied to the successful operation of the underlying hotel properties.

While Eagle was encouraged by its discussions with FRBNY, there is no restructuring agreement in place. Therefore, Eagle, working with the Business Solutions & Governance Department at Dewey & LeBoeuf, is simultaneously exploring all available alternatives and strategies to restructure the loans, including a potential chapter 11 bankruptcy case. It remains Eagle's hopes that all litigation scenarios will be avoided.

Certain information relating to Eagle can be found on its website at www.eaglehospitality.com.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

[Enterprising Investor]

EHPT Fails to Declare First Quarter Dividend (3/15/12)

Purchase, NY (March 15, 2012) - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. today announced that it will not declare a first quarter 2012 dividend with respect to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares due to the continuation of the depressed economic environment for hotel operations.

Please refer to the Articles of Incorporation of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) and Articles Supplementary of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) for a description of the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares.

Certain information relating to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares can be found on the company's website at www.eaglehospitality.com.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

[ChuckD-MSB]

Maybe this will shake something loose for us.


EAGLE HOSPITALITY PROPERTIES TRUST, INC. ENGAGEMENT OF DEWEY & LEBOEUF LLP

PURCHASE, NY (March 14, 2012) -- Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. today announced that it has engaged the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP to evaluate strategic alternatives for the Company. Martin Bienenstock will serve as lead counsel for the engagement. Mr. Bienenstock is chair of the firm's Business Solutions & Governance Department, chair of the firm's Consumer Financial Services Group and a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Bienenstock is a director of the Company, who was elected by the holders of the Company's 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares.
CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Investor Relations, [phone]

http://www.deweyleboeuf.com/en

[Enterprising Investor]

Apollo Has Difficulty Landing Real-Estate Funds (2/15/12)

By CRAIG KARMIN
Apollo Global Management, a private-equity firm with $75 billion in assets under management, regularly mixes it up with other heavyweights in the buyout world.

But when it comes to real estate, Apollo is still a pipsqueak.

More than three years after launching a new real-estate investment business, Apollo's equity fund has raised only about $385 million since it began fund raising early last year. That is well short of its goal of $650 million. Most of that money is conditional, meaning investors have the right to opt out of Apollo deals.

By comparison, buyout firm Blackstone Group raised $6 billion toward a global property fund last year, and Carlyle Group closed on a real-estate fund with more than $2 billion.

And while the biggest real-estate investors can execute deals like Blackstone's $1.1 billion purchase of suburban office buildings from Duke Realty Corp., Apollo has made only three property investments. The fund spent $145 million on hotels in Wilmington, Del., and Columbus, Ohio, last year.

A third deal closed this month for the Novotel New York Times Square hotel, which Apollo and partners bought and plan to completely renovate for about $200 million. The deal was too large for Apollo's fund, forcing the firm to rely on two partners to supply most of the roughly $90 million in equity, say people familiar with the matter.

New York-based Apollo was founded in 1990 by Leon Black, a former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker, and his partners, who turned it into one of the world's largest buyout shops. AMC Entertainment, Norwegian Cruise Line and the parent of Carl's Jr. Restaurants are among the companies it owns. Apollo shares began trading publicly last year.

Apollo's slow start with the real-estate fund shows how tricky it can be for private-equity firms to broaden their business, something most of the giants are trying to do with an eye toward a public offering or a higher stock valuation.

It also reflects how difficult it has become for new real estate funds—even those that are part of established, successful firms—to raise much money at a time when institutional investors are still licking their wounds from the kind of high-risk, high-return real-estate deals that private equity firms do.

A record 450 closed-end real-estate funds are seeking to raise $165 billion, according to Preqin, which tracks alternative investments. That is a huge increase from last year, when 114 real-estate funds closed on $44.4 billion.

Apollo officials say they have more deals in the pipeline and point out that it is going to take about seven years for the U.S. property market to work out the excesses built up during past decade's boom years.

"We're actively reviewing approximately $1 billion in real-estate investment opportunities across our global platform," said Joseph Azrack, head of Apollo real estate. If this was a baseball game, he added, "we're only in the third inning."

Yet, Apollo already is changing its batting lineup. The head of its North America real estate recently left, and the head of marketing the U.S. real-estate fund is about to go. The Los Angeles real-estate team also is leaving. Separately, Chris Lee, the Apollo employee who led the Novotel transaction, left last week for a job at rival Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, say people familiar with the matter.

Apollo isn't the only firm facing challenges to raise money. Some managers, like Carlyle Group, agreed to cut fees and offer other incentives to entice certain large investors for its real-estate fund. Many other firms have cut the proposed size of their property funds because of insufficient demand.

With the fund-raising climate tough, Apollo has tried to bulk up by acquiring other real-estate asset-management businesses with funds already raised, like a Citigroup unit that had about $3.5 billion in assets. In all, it has accumulated or raised nearly $8 billion in assets, including a mortgage real-estate investment trust.

But about three-quarters of the dozen funds and separate accounts from Citigroup have been hit hard by the market collapse and are underwater. That means there is little chance Apollo can collect a share of profits on most of those funds or accounts, say people familiar with the matter.

In trying to raise money for its real-estate fund, Apollo has reached out to dozens of pension funds and other investors that are existing clients already, Apollo officials said.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, which owns an equity stake in Apollo, was approached about investing in the real-estate fund but didn't make any investment. A Calpers spokesman said the pension is focusing on separately managed accounts rather than funds, and on lower-risk real-estate investing than what Apollo was offering.

Like a number of its peers, Apollo started investing in real estate by buying up assets from the Resolution Trust Corp. In 1993, the firm launched Apollo Real Estate Advisors to focus on high-risk, high-return property investments. In 2000, the real-estate group broke off as a separate firm.

Mr. Black a few years ago decided it was time to get back in the real-estate fund business, a move that would diversify the firm's income stream and provide a more-attractive stock-market valuation. He aimed to build a program with a size on par with industry rivals like Blackstone, Morgan Stanley and Fortress Investment Group, say people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Black brought in Mr. Azrack, an industry veteran, in 2008. Two years later, Apollo purchased Citigroup's real-estate fund business, which Mr. Azrack had run previously. The new group started with a focus on debt, launching a $350 million mortgage real-estate investment trust and managing another $1.25 billion for two investors.

So far, the South Carolina Retirement System and the University of Texas Investment Management Co. have agreed to invest a combined $135 million. They have agreed to put up to another $250 million, but that money is conditional, giving them the option to opt out of deals. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has also pledged $3 billion to Apollo, but that money can go to any number of funds and it isn't clear how much would be invested in real estate.

Write to Craig Karmin at [e-mail]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204062704577223313293359528.html?KEYWORDS=apollo+has+difficulty

[Enterprising Investor]

Pricing to dominate hotel RevPAR in 2012 (1/24/12)

Reflecting year-end 2011 results, an updated lodging forecast released today by PwC US anticipates pricing recovery to be the key driver of revenue per available room ("RevPAR") growth in 2012.

Despite a year that was marked by macroeconomic uncertainty, and resulting shaky consumer and business confidence, hotels in the US ended 2011 on a strong note. Lodging performance exceeded expectations in the fourth quarter, in part due to a short-term uptick in economic activity. Hotels across the spectrum of price segments experienced occupancy and average daily rate ("ADR") gains in 2011, reflecting the breadth of the recovery. Overall, hotel occupancy in 2011 recovered to 60.1 percent, slightly ahead of its ten-year average of 60.0 percent. Despite a still-uncertain economic environment, improved occupancy levels and a recovery in travel are expected to give hotels the confidence to increase prices in 2012. PwC's latest lodging industry forecast expects RevPAR growth of 6.5 percent in 2012, heavily driven by ADR increases.

PwC's updated quarterly lodging forecast reflects an updated macroeconomic forecast released earlier this month from Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, which expects economic growth in the US to continue to be weighed down by spillover effects from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Macroeconomic Advisers' outlook expects slow real gross domestic product ("GDP") growth during the first half of 2012, followed by a gradual acceleration in economic activity, reaching an above-trend pace of 2.9 percent annualized growth by the fourth quarter.

In the face of a still-uncertain economic environment, the outlook for improved pricing in the lodging sector reflects the ongoing recovery of business travel, as well as gains in corporate events and other group business. As a result, lodging demand in 2012 is expected to increase 1.8 percent, which combined with restrained supply growth of 0.5 percent, is expected to boost occupancy levels to 60.9 percent, the highest since 2007. Increased confidence from occupancy gains, particularly in the higher-priced segments of the industry, is expected to allow hotels to achieve valuable increases in room rates. As a result, ADR is expected to increase by 5.1 percent in 2012, driving a RevPAR increase of 6.5 percent.

"It will have been a five-year detour, but continued recovery in 2012 is expected to lift industry RevPAR very close to its 2007 peak," said Scott D. Berman, principal and U.S. industry leader, hospitality & leisure, PwC. "The steepest portion of the demand recovery is behind us with operators' focus on room rate becoming increasingly more important."

Get a full copy of PwC's US Lodging Forecast:

http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/asset-management/hospitality-leisure/publications/assets/directions-q4-2011.pdf

http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/pricing_to_dominate_hotel_revpar_in_2012

[CDL]

Hey emily.

Ive spoke to investor relations a few times back in 2010. The chap that i spoke to was Mark Hamrick. It initially did take several attempts before i could get in touch with him but to be fair he did return two of my calls and im based in London, which i was quite impressed by. Do not expect much in terms of information, they are of course very guarded with what they offer hence i suspect the difficulty in getting in touch with them. Saying that though im a big believer that this will pay off very handsomely one day.

[emily523]

Has anyone ever spoken with Investor Relations? I've been calling for a week with no results. Also, has anyone on this board reviewed Maryland's stockholder's right of inspection laws?

[ChuckD-MSB]

There is a TON of information on EHPTP here

http://www.mystockbuddy.com/forum/reits/3175-ehptp_eagle_has_landed_trants_new_spec_play.html

including information on their prospectus and properties they own and how their parent fund is structured and some information received from their Investor Relations.

Many folks there were buying shares in 2010 for .30-.50 including me.

[ChuckD-MSB]

The leverage is pretty much in the hands of our new board members, there are requirements to maintain their REIT status but not sure exactly what they are. Yes it would be much cheaper for them to buy their shares on the market, I think according to their prospectus they can buy up to 10% a year but its been a while since I read it. This is a long term leveraged interest play for me, buying at these levels is a no-brainer in my humble opinion.

[emily523]

Thanks for the quick response. Obviously it's comforting that preferreds now have representation on the board, but what recourse do we now have to get the company to pay accumulated unpaid dividends? Also, given where the preferreds are trading, wouldn't it make more sense for the company to just repurchase them in the open market?

[Enterprising Investor]

Accrued unpaid dividends to 12/31/11 are $6.70 per share.

[emily523]

I'm new to EHPTP. Can anyone give me an approximation for the accumulated unpaid dividends? Also, has anyone spoken to IR about the financial condition of Eagle?

[Enterprising Investor]

Hotel RevPAR Continues to Rise (12/16/11)

Hotel per-room revenue, which has been rising consistently since early last year, continued to improve during the fall, according to Smith Travel Research. The 12-month moving average for revenue per-available hotel room was $60.43 in October, up 8.4% from a year earlier.



http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/12/16/real-estate-chart-wrap-up-20/

[Enterprising Investor]

FelCor Chairman: Decline of Hotel Stocks Ignores Industry’s Results (10/13/11)

By Kris Hudson

Despite the steep decline in hotel stocks in recent months, there’s no looming disaster for the industry, FelCor Lodging Trust Chairman Thomas J. Corcoran Jr. said at a hotel conference near Dallas on Thursday.

Mr. Corcoran said the reality is closer to Smith Travel Research’s projection of a 7.8% increase in revenue per room at U.S. hotels this year and a 7% gain next year than the 30% decline in hotel stocks in the third quarter.

“There is a clear disconnect today between the public markets and where the projections are and how business is,” Mr. Corcoran said to an audience of roughly 50 people at Prism Hotels & Resorts’ annual hotel conference in Grapevine, Texas. “I think we’re going to see continued, general improvement. I hope that those (Smith Travel) numbers happen.”

Mr. Corcoran’s FelCor owns 78 hotels, most of them upscale properties, in 22 states. It is among the largest owners of hotels carrying the brands of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, parent company of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, among others. Mr. Corcoran co-founded the company in 1994 and served as its chief executive until 2006.

In his speech Thursday, Mr. Corcoran quipped that, if hotel stocks reflected Smith Travel’s projections for the industry’s gains, those stocks would double.

“One of the things that has bugged me that I can’t quite figure out on the public-market side is that this is the third cycle in the last 10 years where you’ve seen the public markets say the whole (hotel) industry is going into the tank,” Mr. Corcoran said. “They’ve been wrong the last two times, and they’ll be wrong this time.”

Among the other topics that Mr. Corcoran touched upon in his 30-minute address:

Even though lenders to the commercial real estate industry drew criticism in recent years for the “extend and pretend” practice of postponing loan maturities, Mr. Corcoran says lenders acted more responsibly in the last downturn than in previous cycles. “I still think people will look back through this cycle and say that most of the lenders actually were smart, and they will not have repeated the mistake they made (in past cycles of) dumping about 20% of the hotel inventory on the market all at once,” he said.

The hotel industry’s recovery likely will continue to be slow and steady rather than dramatic. “It’s not going to be huge,” he said. “And it’s going to be at a rate where you won’t see a lot of stupid money coming into the market. You won’t get a lot of irrational overbuilding. We should get a longer run out of this cycle than we did the last two.”

Many hotel mortgages granted two-year extensions during the recession are again coming due. Mr. Corcoran said it is hard to predict what will happen with most of them. “There isn’t any general rule of thumb,” he said. “I think people have shown a tendency to work with each other if they all have the same goal or objective in mind.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/10/13/felcor-chairman-decline-of-hotel-stocks-ignores-industrys-results/

[Enterprising Investor]

EHPT Fails to Declare Fourth Quarter Dividend (12/15/11)

Purchase, NY (December 15, 2011) - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. today announced that it will not declare a fourth quarter 2011 dividend with respect to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares due to the continuation of the depressed economic environment for hotel operations.

Please refer to the Articles of Incorporation of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) and Articles Supplementary of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) for a description of the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares.

Certain information relating to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares can be found on the company's website at www.eaglehospitality.com.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

[Enterprising Investor]

Hotel Deals Decline as Stocks Drop (11/30/11)

By KRIS HUDSON

For acquisition-minded hotel owners, now would seem to be the perfect time to pounce: Hotel property prices are relatively low, while hotel revenue is growing. Yet acquisition activity has slowed.

The reason hinges on concerns about the overall economy rather than any dip in hotel results so far, say analysts and real-estate firms.

With growing worry that the global economy could be pushed back into recession, investors have pummeled hotel stocks, since hotels are the category of commercial real estate most quickly affected by economic shifts. With hotel stocks depressed, the main way for real-estate investment trusts and other buyers of hotels to raise money—selling stock—has gotten more expensive in this year's second half.

Thus, many of the REITs have reined in their buying activity until their stocks recover.

"Whenever there are macroeconomic concerns, hotel stocks get hit hard," said Larry Wolfe, senior managing director overseeing hotel transactions at brokerage Eastdil Secured. "We have a situation where hotels were performing well and expectations remain strong, but lodging stocks dropped. Clearly, there were some smart guys making assumptions that there was going to be a recession."

Early in the year, the U.S. market for hotel acquisitions was sizzling, racking up a 163% increase in second-quarter deal volume compared with the same period a year earlier to nearly $4.9 billion, according to real-estate research company Real Capital Analytics. In the first quarter, the year-over-year increase was 147% to $4 billion. The growth rate slowed in the third quarter, when the $5.6 billion of hotel deals struck amounted to a smaller increase of 84% from the same period in 2010.

With buyers still relatively hesitant, deal volume in the fourth quarter likely will appear tepid when compared with last year's fourth quarter, when $6.9 billion of hotel deals were done, according to Real Capital.

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., one of the world's largest hotel-property owners, spent $1.7 billion to buy 14 hotels across the globe from the second quarter of 2010 to this year's second quarter. Then the buying came to an abrupt halt. In September, Host scuttled its deal to buy the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, Calif. Now, Host is considering scrapping its $442 million purchase of the Grand Hyatt Washington, D.C., the company has said.

The reason for Host's pullback centers primarily on the company's stock price, which fell 35% in the third quarter amid a broader slide of hotel stocks. Most public hotel companies raise capital for use in acquisitions by selling their stock. But hotel stocks have fallen so much that hotel owners now would have to sell a larger allotment of their stock to raise enough to finance property purchases.

"If we can't issue equity and we can't raise capital by selling assets, then our acquisition activity will be muted," said Host Chief Executive Ed Walter. At the same time, potential buyers of hotels that Host wants to sell are similarly hamstrung.

The trajectory of hotel stocks and the financial results produced by hotels have diverged in this year's second half. The hotel component of the Dow Jones All REIT index, which tracks 16 hotel REITs, posted a 34.5% decline this year to Sept. 30. As of trading Tuesday, the index is down 24.4% for the year.

Meanwhile, U.S. hotels continue to post gains in nightly revenue per room and occupancy. They posted an 8.2% increase in revenue per room to $62.93 in the first 10 months of this year compared with the same period in 2010, according to Smith Travel Research. In that same period, occupancy at U.S. hotels increased by 2.6 percentage points to 61.8%. PKF Hospitality Research LLC, a hospitality industry research firm, projects that U.S. hotels will post an average gain in revenue per room of 6.2% in 2012.

Despite the pullback, buyers remain interested in hotels in top-tier U.S. cities and international gateways. Hersha Hospitality Trust, a REIT that owns 79 hotels in major U.S. cities, on Nov. 17 bought the 263-room Courtyard Miami Beach Oceanfront hotel for $95 million.

"There are only five or six markets in the country that we really believe can grow at a high enough pace in the next couple of years to warrant a great investment," said Hersha President Neil Shah.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203710704577052320594792982.html

[ChuckD-MSB]

And there it goes up 56% probably those same 1900 shares that were bought Friday. Someone probably had a GTC buy set to get them that low, easy money. This remains one of my favorite long term holds.

[Enterprising Investor]

Me, too.

October always provides some values.

[ChuckD-MSB]

Someone sold 1900 shares at $1.60 an absolute steal for those who know what this is. Wish I had a buy in.

[Joseph-]

Sweet I didn't know this board existed yet; thanks everyone. I love this play and truly believe it will pay off large one day down the road as well...patience WILL be required; but he/she with patience will be rewarded IMHO. Our unpaid dividend's are now around $6.24 --> Twice the current share price of $3.00!


EAGLE HOSPITALITY PROPERTIES TRUST, INC. UPDATE ON THIRD QUARTER 2011 DIVIDEND

Purchase, NY (September 13, 2011) - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. today announced that it will not declare a third quarter 2011 dividend with respect to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares due to the continuation of the depressed economic environment for hotel operations.

Please refer to the Articles of Incorporation of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) and Articles Supplementary of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. (f/k/a AP AIMCAP Corporation) for a description of the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares.

Certain information relating to the 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares can be found on the company's website at www.eaglehospitality.com.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

Eagle Website

[ChuckD-MSB]

I tried to add more today at 5 bucks, could not get filled.

[Enterprising Investor]

Hotel Revpar Rises For 11th Straight Month (9/06/11)

Hotel per-room revenue continued to improve in July, according to Smith Travel Research. The firm said the 12-month moving average for revenue per available hotel room was $59.16 in July, up 8.5% from a year earlier. In June, the 12-month moving average for revpar, as it is known in business parlance, was $58.76, up 8.6% from a year earlier.

Source: Wall Street Journal

[ChuckD-MSB]

Update from their website

http://www.eaglehospitality.com/

EAGLE HOSPITALITY PROPERTIES TRUST, INC. ANNOUNCES THAT THE HOLDERS OF ITS SERIES A PREFERRED SHARES ELECT TWO DIRECTORS TO THE BOARD

PURCHASE, NY, July 12, 2011 - Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the "Company"), today announced that on June 28, 2011 it resumed its 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders in New York, New York (the "Resumed Annual Meeting"), which was originally held and adjourned on April 12, 2011. At the Resumed Annual Meeting, a quorum of the Company's outstanding 8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, $0.01 par value per share ("Series A Preferred Shares"), was present, in person or by proxy, and each of Martin J. Bienenstock and Lauren A. Krueger was elected to hold office until the Company's next annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualifies or until all dividends accumulated on the Series A Preferred Shares have been paid or set aside for payment.

CONTACT: Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc.
Patti Hawkins, Investor Relations, [phone]

[ChuckD-MSB]

160K shares traded today, nice

[ChuckD-MSB]

Somebody got lucky today and picked up 1000 shares at $3.25, then it popped back up over 5

[ChuckD-MSB]

June 28, 2011 11:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Esopus Creek Nominees Elected to the Eagle Hospitality Board of Directors


SHORT HILLS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Esopus Creek Value Series Fund LP, the beneficial owner of approximately 8.5% of the outstanding shares of the 8.25% Series “A” Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust Inc. (“Eagle”), today announced that its’ board nominees, Martin J. Bienenstock and Lauren A. Krueger, were both elected to the Eagle Board of Directors at the June 28th preferred shareholder meeting. Esopus also released the following open letter to preferred shareholders.
Dear Fellow Preferred Shareholders:
Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust Inc. convened its preferred shareholder meeting in New York City today. Esopus’ nominees, Martin J. Bienenstock and Lauren A. Krueger, were elected to the Board of Directors by a majority of the preferred shareholders who were present at the meeting, either in person or by proxy.
Esopus would like to publicly acknowledge its gratitude to all of the shareholders who opted to cast their votes in support of our nominees. We are highly confident that Mr. Bienenstock and Ms. Krueger will serve as excellent fiduciaries on behalf of all Eagle shareholders.
Respectfully Submitted,
Andrew L. Sole
Managing Member
Esopus Creek Advisors LLC

Contacts

Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C.
For Esopus Creek Value Series Fund LP
Martin D. Sklar, Esq. 212-986-6000

[ChuckD-MSB]

Glad you started this board Enterprising Investor!!!!!

I have been meaning to do it myself just have not had the time. Superfly and I started buying these when they were .30, we lovingly refer to them as "Eagle Eggs" and are just waiting for them to "hatch".

Basically these are $25.00 preferred shares and callable at anytime, plus they owe around $6 bucks a share in back dividends.

Google "EHPTP The Eagle has landed" and you will find a TON of information we posted on another board dating back over a year.

I have a rather large position and add I more on the dips, they are hard to come by some days, and the gray market means the best offer does not always get filled. The trick is to set a GTC buy and cross your fingers, there are only 4 million shares total and a few funds have a lot locked up. When friends and family ask for a stock tip from me I have no qualms about this one.