Hospitality Properties Trust To Acquire Lease Portfolio Of 774 Retail Properties

(RTTNews) - Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT) has agreed to acquire a net lease portfolio consisting of 774 retail properties from Spirit MTA REIT (SMTA) for $2.4 billion. The portfolio is 98% occupied with a weighted average lease term of 8.6 years. HPT expects the acquisition to be accretive to annualized normalized FFO per share in 2020.

HPT said it has secured commitments from lenders for an up to $2.0 billion unsecured term loan facility. To reduce debt levels, the company intends to sell approximately $500 million of the acquired assets and approximately $300 million of hotel and other assets following the closing of the deal.

John Murray, CEO of HPT, said: "We expect this transaction to benefit our shareholders and expect to maintain our investment grade ratings. In the future, we expect to invest in additional service and necessity-based retail properties on a triple net basis, preferably in portfolios, in addition to our continued focus on hotels and travel centers."