
Sunstone Hotel Investors has announced the sale of three of its US properties as part of the company’s efforts to strengthen its balance sheet and improve portfolio quality.
The 229-room Doubletree Guest Suites Minneapolis, the 257-room Hilton Del Mar, and the 350-room Marriott Troy have been sold for $107.1 million (equivalent to $128,100 per key), which includes $75.6 million in mortgage debt and approximately $2.1 million of deferred management fees, to be assumed by the buyer, who remains undisclosed. Sunstone also announced that the sale of the 284-room Marriott Del Mar for $66.0 million (or $232,400 per key) has been completed. Ken Cruse, President and CEO, stated, "The Three-Hotel Portfolio sale we announced today, coupled with our previously announced sale of the Marriott Del Mar, are solid steps toward our stated corporate goals of improving our portfolio quality while strengthening our balance sheet. For the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2012, the four disposition hotels generated combined RevPAR of $91.54 and EBITDA per key of $12,400, both of which are more than 30% below our portfolio average. By selling these four relatively small, highly-levered, lower RevPAR hotels we will reduce our overall indebtedness by approximately $122.7 million, increase our cash position by approximately $48.3 million, improve our asset concentrations in key growth markets and increase our overall portfolio RevPAR and EBITDA per key. While we may look to advance our portfolio and credit objectives through additional asset sales in the future, the transactions announced today mark the completion of our planned 2012 dispositions program."
