BETHESDA, Md., June 06, 2016 — Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:HST) (“Host Hotels” or the “Company”), the nation’s largest lodging real estate investment trust (“REIT”), today announced that it closed on the sale of three assets previously identified as under contract for approximately $175 million. The transactions comprised the Sheraton Santiago Hotel and Convention Center (379 rooms), San Cristobal Tower, Santiago (139 rooms) and Manhattan Beach Marriott (385 rooms), which have average RevPAR of $124, significantly less than the Company’s 2015 portfolio with RevPAR of over $170. The reduction in EBITDA related to these hotels, as well as two additional hotels that remain under contract, was accounted for in guidance provided by the Company in its first quarter 2016 earnings release dated April 29, 2016.
“Today’s announcement underscores the continued execution of the strategic initiatives to strengthen our portfolio and drive growth and value creation for our stockholders,” said W. Edward Walter, President and Chief Executive Officer. “In the last 12 months, we have successfully divested more than $1.2 billion of non-core assets, increasing the overall quality of our portfolio. Consistent with our strategy, we continue to deploy proceeds from these sales to return significant capital to stockholders through dividends and stock repurchases.”
Since its first quarter earnings call on April 29, 2016, the Company has repurchased 4.25 million shares of common stock for a total purchase price of $65 million, bringing the total amount repurchased to $822 million since the inception of the program in April 2015. The Company currently has $178 million of repurchase capacity remaining under its October 2015 share repurchase program.
