BETHESDA, MARYLAND RLJ Lodging Trust has filed plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering that could raise as much as US$550 million.
The REIT plans to use proceeds to repay debt and for general business purposes. BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Wells Fargo Securities are underwriting the IPO. RLJ will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RLJ.
RLJ will own 140 hotels in 19 states and the District of Columbia, comprising more than 20,400 guestrooms. Most of the hotels are branded under Hyatt Hotels Corp., Marriott International Inc. and Hilton Worldwide flags.
RLJ plans to continue concentrating acquisition efforts on urban and dense suburban markets.