The Firm represented certain entities affiliated with The Blackstone Group L.P. and Centerbridge Partners, L.P. in connection with a $439 million offering, consisting of 25,000,000 shares of paired common stock, each comprising one share of common stock of Extended Stay America, Inc. and one share of Class B common stock of ESH Hospitality, Inc., which are attached and trade together. Blackstone and Centerbridge sold an aggregate of 17,162,572 of the paired shares sold in the offering and an additional 389,020 paired shares sold to Extended Stay in a private transaction at a price per share equal to the price per share paid by the underwriters in the public offering.
Extended Stay America, Inc. (NYSE: STAY) owns and operates 625 company-branded hotels in the U.S. and Canada comprising approximately 68,800 rooms located in 44 states across the United States and in Canada. The company’s core brand, Extended Stay America®, serves the mid-priced extended stay segment.
In 2010, the Firm represented Blackstone in a $3.925 billion acquisition, in conjunction with Centerbridge and Paulson, of Extended Stay pursuant to a bankruptcy auction. Since Extended Stay’s IPO in 2013, the Firm has advised Blackstone and Centerbridge on secondary offerings aggregating more than $2.6 billion.
The Simpson Thacher team for the transaction included Edgar Lewandowski, Jonathan Pacheco and Natalie Karam (Capital Markets); Jonathan Karen, Steven Klar, Elizabeth Muscarella and Drew Harmon (Funds); and James Rapp (Public Company Advisory Practice). Summer Associate Christine Levi also provided valuable assistance.