Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) today announced that Monty
J. Bennett, Chief Executive Officer and President has relinquished the
title of President and has promoted Douglas A. Kessler to fill the
position of President. Since the Company’s initial public offering in
2003, Mr. Kessler had been Chief Operating Officer and Head of
Acquisitions. Mr. Bennett retains the title of Chief Executive Officer.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Bennett stated, "Doug has been
instrumental in every aspect of Ashford’s growth. His management focus
and leadership vision on transactions, capital markets, and investor
relations optimizes Ashford’s strategies. With his initiative and
dedication to seek long term shareholder return, he has spearheaded
virtually all of our key objectives including: numerous equity and
preferred capital raises, property level and corporate debt facilities,
as well as acquisitions including the $2.5 billion CNL transaction. His
diverse real estate and corporate management capabilities contribute
significantly to our internal management practices, seeking to be best
in class. I look forward to continuing to work with Doug to move Ashford
forward.”
In addition, the Company announced that David A. Brooks has been
promoted to Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. Since the
Company’s initial public offering in 2003, Mr. Brooks had been Chief
Legal Officer and Head of Transactions.
Mr. Bennett continued, "The promotion of David to Chief Operating
Officer and General Counsel recognizes his multidimensional
capabilities. David engages in every phase of the Company’s business,
especially including the negotiation, structuring, and closing of
transactions, and advises on all facets of the Company’s strategies,
corporate governance and legal concerns. His unique combination of
business acumen and legal expertise greatly enhance Ashford’s ability to
achieve our strategic goals. David’s command of the smallest detail to
the broadest issue provides us with the expertise to implement our key
strategies.”
Ashford currently has $185 million of free cash on hand, with a
weighted-average cost of debt at 3.340%. Ashford has one hard debt
maturity of $29M in 2009 and one hard debt maturity of $75M in 2010. All
other debt maturities occur in 2011 and beyond.
Ashford Hospitality Trust is a self-administered real estate investment
trust focused on investing in the hospitality industry across all
segments and at all levels of the capital structure, including direct
hotel investments, first mortgages, mezzanine loans and sale-leaseback
transactions. Additional information can be found on the Company's web
site at www.ahtreit.com.
Certain statements and assumptions in this press release contain or
are based upon "forward-looking" information and are being made pursuant
to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995.
These forward-looking statements are subject
to risks and uncertainties. When we use the words "will likely result,"
"may," "anticipate," "estimate," "should," "expect," "believe,"
"intend," or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking
statements.
Such forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, the timing for closing, the impact of the transaction on our
business and future financial condition, our business and investment
strategy, our understanding of our competition and current market trends
and opportunities and projected capital expenditures.
Such
statements are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many
of which are outside Ashford's control.
These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown
risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation:
general
volatility of the capital markets and the market price of our common
stock; changes in our business or investment strategy; availability,
terms and deployment of capital; availability of qualified personnel;
changes in our industry and the market in which we operate, interest
rates or the general economy; and the degree and nature of our
competition.
These and other risk factors are more fully
discussed in Ashford's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
The forward-looking statements included in this press release are
only made as of the date of this press release.
Investors should
not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
We
are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
circumstances, changes in expectations or otherwise.
