Is Xenia REIT Protecting Dividends Like The Greek God Protects Travelers?

Summary

• Zeus exemplified the religious responsibility to be hospitable to travelers, and I suppose my obligation is to determine whether or not Xenia Hotels & Resorts is generous to investors.
• Since listing shares a few days ago, Xenia has have fallen by around 10%, with a market close of $20.91.
• The brokers who sold the non-traded shares are likely pursuing their clients to sell the shares to reinvest in another non-traded REIT (ka-ching, ka-ching).
• The true meaning (of Xenia) is to protect the traveler, and that’s similar to the mantra of the SWAN (sleep well at night) – protect your principal at ALL costs.

Xenia is Greek, and is translated to mean “guest-friendship”. According to Wikipedia, “The Greek god Zeus is sometimes called Zeus Xenios in his role as a protector of travelers”. That’s a great name for a REIT, and is one I’ll be covering in this article today.

Zeus exemplified the religious responsibility to be hospitable to travelers, and I suppose my obligation is to determine whether or not Xenia Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:XHR) is generous to investors. Don’t worry, my Greek mythology research will end with this subtle introduction, so we can now focus on the most important aspects of this new player in REIT-dom.

A New Lodging Publicly Traded Lodging REIT

Xenia completed its spin-off from Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. (a non-traded REIT), and its common stock began trading February 4th on the NYSE. Following the spin-off, Inland American still owns roughly 5% of the outstanding shares of Xenia, according to a separate release issued by the former. Inland American stockholder received 1 share of Xenia common stock for every 8 shares of Inland American common stock they held at the close of business on January 20, the record date for the spin-off.

Xenia commenced, in connection with the spin-off and listing, a modified Dutch auction self-tender offer to purchase for cash up to $125 million in value of shares of the company’s common stock. Goldman Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisors to Inland American in relation to the spin-off.