The real estate investment trusts (REIT),
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (
HST
)
recently announced that its sole general partner - Host Hotels
& Resorts, L.P. - has priced a public offering of $400
million worth of 3.75% Senior Notes, maturing in 2023. The
transaction is anticipated to be completed on Mar 28, subject to
customary closing conditions.
Host Hotels expects to generate around $396 million (after
deducting the underwriters' discounts and estimated offering
expenses) of net proceeds from the offering. The company intends
to use the net proceeds, along with available cash in hand, to
redeem all of Host L.P.'s $400 million worth of 9% Series T
Senior Notes, slated to mature in 2017.
The offering involves a consortium of renowned banks acting as
the joint book-running managers, including BofA Merrill Lynch of
Bank of America Corporation (
BAC
)
,
J.P. Morgan (
JPM
)
, Goldman, Sachs & Co. of The
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (
GS
)
and Deutsche Bank Securities.
We believe this public offering will enable Host Hotels to attain
financial flexibility and position it favorably to pursue
investment opportunities and acquisitions, which will go a long
way in enhancing its top-line growth.
Last month, Host Hotels came up with a strong fourth quarter 2012
results with adjusted FFO (funds from operations) per share of 40
cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents. This also
exceeded the year-ago adjusted FFO by 25%. The result came on the
back of strong performance of the company's operating properties.
As of Dec 31, 2012, Host Hotels had $417 million worth of cash
and cash equivalents and $737 million available under its credit
facility. The company also successfully executed its strategic
aim of reducing cost of debt and extending debt maturities for
strengthening the balance sheet. During 2012, Host Hotels issued
$1.5 billion of debt with a weighted average interest rate of
3.7% and utilized the proceeds to repay $1.9 billion of debt with
a weighted-average interest rate of 6.7%.
Host Hotels currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Note: FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of
REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and
other non-cash expenses to net income.
BANK OF AMER CP (BAC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
GOLDMAN SACHS (GS): Free Stock Analysis
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HOST HOTEL&RSRT (HST): Free Stock Analysis
Report
JPMORGAN CHASE (JPM): Free Stock Analysis
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