Thursday, March 1, 2012

Chatham Lodging Trust Announces Distributions of $13.1 Million from Joint Venture




 PALM BEACH, FL—Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE: CLDT), a hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing in upscale extended-stay hotels and premium-branded select-service hotels, announced  that the joint venture between Chatham and Cerberus Capital Management LP, which owns 64 hotels with 8,329 rooms/suites, closed on a $130 million mortgage loan secured by 10 previously unencumbered hotels comprising 1,707 rooms.

 Eastdil Secured, L.L.C. arranged the $130 million first mortgage and mezzanine non-recourse financing with lenders Citibank, N.A., Wells Fargo Bank, National Association and an affiliate of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. 

The maturity of the facilities is three years with two one-year extension options and carries an all-in interest rate of 6.9 percent.

 In addition to net proceeds from the financing, additional cash generated from operations was distributed to the partners, resulting in a distribution to Chatham of approximately $13.1 million, or more than $1 per share. 

The $13.1 million distribution represents 35 percent of the company’s initial $37 million investment.  Chatham will use part of the distribution to pay down borrowings outstanding on its senior secured credit facility.

“We believe the joint venture is going to be very successful for Chatham, Cerberus and our shareholders, and this is a first step toward optimizing our equity investment returns in the joint venture,” said Dennis Craven, Chatham’s chief financial officer. 

 “The joint venture has now returned over $1 per share in cash to Chatham.  Our remaining equity investment in the joint venture is approximately $24 million, and we are excited about the expected future returns to Chatham shareholders from this remaining investment.”

Additional information about Chatham may be found at www.chathamlodgingtrust.com.

Contact:

Dennis Craven (Company),
 Chief Financial Officer,
 (561) 227-1386
                                                                                                
Jerry Daly or Carol McCune,
Daly Gray (Media),  
(703) 435-6293

Patrick Daly
Account Supervisor
Daly Gray, Inc.
Office:  (703) 435-6293
Cell:  (703) 300-8289


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