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Hotel brokerage Hodges Ward Elliott, which has completed roughly $70B in property sales and refinancing altogether, $26B of that over the last five years, has hired investment bank Evercore to put itself in play.
HWE is looking to be recapitalized but also expects bids for the entire company, Green Street reports. The Atlanta-based brokerage is privately held by its founding families, though outside investors hold minority interests. The company undertakes a variety of institutional hotel deals, including property sales and advisory services, as well as the trading of partial and preferred-equity interests.
The move comes as investors are hot for hotels, as leisure travel has made a full comeback and business travel edges upward. Total hotel sales nearly quadrupled in 2021 compared to 2020, reaching $21.5B. In 2021, according to Green Street’s Sales Comps Database, HWE was the most active U.S. hotel brokerage, with a market share of 29%.
HWE in March brokered the sale of the Amangani resort, a 40-key luxury property in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the first Aman-branded resort developed in the Americas and the only resort designed by renowned architect Ed Tuttle. HWE also facilitated the sale in February of a 376-room hotel portfolio of three select-service properties in Oregon, representing the seller, Widewaters Hotels.
William Hodges and Jack Ward founded the company in 1975, with Mark Elliott joining in 1983 and acquiring an interest in 1992, at which time his name was added. Elliot led the company and oversaw its expansion until his death last year at 58.
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