Privatization Of Army Lodging Team Wins North American Real Estate Deal Of The Year

Actus Lend Lease and the Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) project company, Rest Easy LLC, were honored at Project Finance's Deal of the Year award ceremony in New York City on March 4, 2010, for closing the first-ever privatization of hotels on U.S. Army posts—the PAL “Group A” project.

The deal was named Project Finance's 2009 "North American Real Estate Deal of the Year," an award which recognizes innovation and achievement in the global project finance market.

The PAL project was ready to come to market in late 2008 – just in time to face a frozen credit market and a world-wide credit crisis – which was especially severe for lodging assets. Thanks to the innovation and tenacity of the Actus Lend Lease transaction team; the Army and its consultant, Jones Lang Lasalle; the Project Team along with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, we were able to leverage ongoing business relationships and industry expertise in financing MHPI transactions to close on the acquisition of 62 hotels in August 2009. As a result, the financing allowed Actus Lend Lease and the Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) to take over the management and operations of more than 3,200 hotel rooms located at 10 Army installations across eight states throughout the U.S.

In the first of three phases of the Group A project, expected to be completed in 2011, more than $125 million of privately placed debt and equity was invested to upgrade and renovate the existing lodging portfolio to the standards required to be branded and operated under IHG’s Holiday Inn Express brand. The follow on phases of Group A are expected to add approximately $350-450 million in additional capital to finance further renovations and the construction of new Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites hotels, ultimately leading to an expansion of the project to nearly 4,000 hotel rooms.

PAL Group A includes hotels located at the following ten Army installations: Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona; Fort Myer, Virginia; and Fort Shafter/Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii.

About Project Finance Magazine
Project Finance magazine is Euromoney Publications' flagship international infrastructure finance title. Publishing for 26 years, Project Finance covers a range of sectors including oil & gas, power, renewables, transport and public-private-partnership. The magazine's subscribers are global and comprise project developers, bankers, consultants, lawyers, multilaterals and the public sector.

This is the 10th year that Project Finance has awarded "Deals of the Year," given to the fastest, cleanest and strongest deal structures and innovations that move the market forward. All deals are vetted by Project Finance's team of journalists, shortlisted via a weighting system and debated by the team and independent industry contacts. Final decisions are made via a further, more detailed, weighting system. On average 300-350 of the best deals of the given year are entered for the awards.