Three REITs set merger to create $3.5B portfolio

Three Apple REITs — Apple REIT Seven Inc., Apple REIT Eight Inc. and Apple REIT Nine Inc. — are merging in a transaction that will create a company with a portfolio of roughly $3.5 billion. The boards of each of the real estate investment trusts unanimously approved the move, in which Apple Seven and Apple Eight will combine with Apple Nine in two merger transactions. The merger is subject to the approval of shareholders. “Due to the increased size and scale of the combined company, we believe that it will be better positioned to pursue enhanced avenues of liquidity for our shareholders through the exploration of certain strategic alternatives such as possibly listing the combined company on an exchange, a sale of the combined company or a merger with a third-party company and to have access to more-attractive financing,” Glade M. Knight, chairman and chief executive of all three companies, said in a statement. The consolidation was foreshadowed in June when, in regulatory filings, the three REITs individually said they were considering consolidation. Apple REIT Seven owns 51 hotels purchased since 2006 for a total of $901 million; Apple REIT Eight, which began raising money in 2007, also has 51 hotels, bought for $950 million; and Apple REIT Nine has 89 hotels purchased for $1.5 billion since it was offered in 2008.