Luis Barrios, general director of City Express Hotels, assured that the hotel chain’s next project is the launch of Fiber Staya real estate investment trust in the hotel segment, this after having completed the sale of the hotel brand in Mexico to Marriott International.
The manager mentioned that they are waiting for better market conditions to go ahead with their project announced since January 2018. His plan was to carry out the public offering on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) later that year.
Through the placement of this real estate investment vehicle, the hotel chain expected to obtain resources of between 2,000 million and 2,500 million pesos to finance its growth. The initial portfolio included 42 hotels out of the 135 units reported more than five years ago.
This Wednesday, May 3, the general director of City Express Hotels along with Brian King, president of Marriott International for the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), announced their new alliance that includes the sale of the five brands of the hotel chain in Mexico, as well as its loyalty program City Awards Rewards to Marriott International, who shelled out $100 million for the acquisition.
Luis Barrios commented that this operation will benefit investors, because the resources obtained from the sale of the brand city express represents an “extraordinary profit” that will mean higher income and lower operating costs for the company he runs.
“That must be reflected gradually (in the share price) from now on, it will not be instantaneous. The other thing is that we are going to use practically half of these resources to pay debt, ”he said.
We got rid of debt, our balance sheet is improved and we have much greater liquidity than we have now,” added Luis Barrios.
Following the relevant event published on Tuesday, May 2 in the BMVthe actions of City Express Hotels they have risen 4.58% in the last two sessions in the stock exchange, to trade at a price of 8.67 pesos per unit.
The manager clarified that they will continue to be listed on the BMV, since this operation only involved the sale of the brand’s intellectual property, since they will continue to be the owners of the hotels, in addition, they will keep the management contracts, the profit generated by its operation, as well as its technological platform.
