Ashford Trust To Spin-Off Asset Management Business Into Separate, Public Co.

(RTTNews) - Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (AHT) said Thursday that its Board of Directors has approved a plan to spin-off its asset management business into a separate publicly traded company in the form of a taxable distribution.

The distribution is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2014 and will be comprised of common stock in Ashford, Inc., a newly formed or successor company of the Ashford Trust's existing advisor subsidiary, Ashford Hospitality Advisors LLC, which currently advises Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. (AHP).

Ashford Hospitality Trust plans to file a listing application for Ashford Inc. with the NYSE or NYSE MKT Exchanges. In connection with the spin-off, it is anticipated that Ashford Inc. will enter into a 20-year advisory agreement to externally advise Ashford Hospitality Trust. In addition, Ashford Inc. will continue to externally advise Ashford Prime.

During the last quarter, Ashford Hospitality Trust completed the spin-off of Ashford Prime, which started trading under the ticker symbol "AHP" on November 20, 2013, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Ashford Hospitality Trust also on Thursday reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of $25.9 million or $0.32 per share, compared to a net loss of $21.1 million or $0.11 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Adjusted funds from operations was $0.14 per share for the fourth quarter, compared with $0.39 in the prior-year quarter.

Revenue for the fourth quarter fell to $209.76 million from $240.58 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report FFO of $0.23 per share on revenue of $212.01 million for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.