Innkeepers USA Trust up for sale

Innkeepers USA Trust, a real-estate investment trust that owns more than 70 hotels, is shopping for investors or outright buyers to take the firm out of bankruptcy-court protection, said people familiar with the matter.
Innkeepers bankers have contacted some 70 potential investors and are readying for a prolonged auction to pick a bidder to finance the company's bankruptcy exit, the people said.

Innkeepers is likely to attract investors who work with creditors to restructure the hotel company's debt, the people said. But Innkeepers is also essentially putting itself up for sale, looking for buyers who would take control of the company in an all-cash bid, the people said. Innkeepers runs hotels under brands including Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

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Innkeepers Judge Says Best Western Can't End Agreement for Florida Hotel

Innkeepers USA Trust can keep an agreement to run the Best Western West Palm Beach Airport Inn in West Palm Beach, Florida, preventing a situation the bankrupt company said could harm its ability to reorganize.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman in Manhattan today barred Best Western International Inc.’s request to end its contract with Innkeepers at the hotel, saying that if she did, defaults could be triggered on Innkeepers’ loans.

“I believe the debtors are entitled to more time to determine what they want to do with this agreement,” Chapman said.
Best Western said the hotel doesn’t meet its requirements for design features such as mandated lobby size and exercise facilities, which it imposes on hotel operators that use its brand. It asked to end Innkeepers’ ability to use its logos, citing damage to its trademark.

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Innkeepers USA gets OK for more DIP financing

The judge's decision overruled the objections of special servicer Trimont Real Estate Advisors Inc, which opposed the additional financing saying that Innkeepers did not need "that kind of leverage."

Lehman ALI, a unit of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK) can provide as much as $17.5 million in financing to help fund hotel improvements and pay expenses, said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman at a New York hearing. Innkeepers' portfolio includes some Residence Inn and Hampton Inn hotels.

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Innkeepers Creditors Can Probe Apollo and Lehman Buyout Deal

Innkeepers USA Trust’s creditors won court permission to probe the 2007 transaction in which Apollo Investment Corp. acquired ownership of the bankrupt hotel company, giving it $1 billion in debt.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman in Manhattan court today said the committee can seek documents and witnesses from parties involved in the buyout, including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which was an originator to loans used in the buyout. Creditors also seek to evaluate the validity of secured claims on Innkeeper’s estate which arose from the 2007 transaction.

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Marriott Wants Brand Name Off Innkeepers' Hotel

Marriott International Inc. says hotel operator Innkeepers USA Trust, which is in bankruptcy, is dragging its feet on a pledge to take the hotel giant's Residence Inn brand name off a Detroit-area hotel.

In papers filed Wednesday in Innkeepers' bankruptcy case, lawyers for Marriott said Innkeepers has indicated it will not change the name on the Residence Inn in Troy, Mich., by the end of August.

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Appollo’s Innkeepers USA Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Innkeepers USA Trust, a hotel investment company Leon Black’s Apollo Investment Corp. bought three years ago, filed for bankruptcy protection after room revenue fell and debt payments rose.

The Palm Beach, Florida-based company with a stake in 72 U.S. hotels owes more than $1 billion, according to Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. A prearranged plan supported by franchisor Marriott International Inc. will let Innkeeper’s retain its properties as it reorganizes, Innkeeper’s Chief Financial Officer Dennis Craven said.

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Innkeepers USA loan in special servicing

NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - An $825.4 million loan on 45 hotels owned by Innkeepers USA Trust was transferred to the care of a special servicer, Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday, a week after Innkeepers said it had missed debt payments.


The portfolio was transferred to Midland Loan Services for special servicing, Fitch said. Innkeepers could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

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