DALLAS — This article was initially published by WFAA's content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. Read the original article here.
Ashford Inc., the manager of hospitality real estate assets run by Dallas businessman Monty Bennett, has ended its run as a public company.
Shareholders of the Dallas-based firm voted July 22 to terminate the registration of the company’s common stock, and to delist its shares from the New York Stock Exchange.
Its last day of trading on the NYSE American is Friday, July 26.
Bennett is following through with plans disclosed in April to go private in order to avoid the expenses of being public. The company is expected to save around $2.5 million annually with the change.
Shareholders have also approved a 1-for-10,000 reverse stock split, followed by a 10,000-for-1 forward stock split, both of which will happen July 29. The stock splits mean those who own less than 10,000 shares would be cashed out at a price of $5 per share. That would result in 1.1 million shares, representing about 31% of outstanding common stock, being cashed out, according to Hotel Investment Today.
Ashford Inc. oversees two publicly traded real estate investment trusts: Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. (NYSE: AHT) and Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: BHR). The former weathered a proxy fight this year with an activist investor, Blackwells Capital LLC.
Blackwells claimed the AHT board was not acting in the best interests of shareholders when it pushed to remove Bennett. But Bennett remained executive chairman even after he and another board member did not receive enough votes to be re-elected. The remaining board members declined to accept their resignations.
A showdown was also expected between the Braemar board and Blackwells but the companies announced on July 2 a "cooperation agreement." Blackwells agreed to withdraw director nominations and vote alongside Braemar at the REIT's 2024 annual shareholder meeting. The investor also plans to buy 3.5 million more shares of Braemar, which will add an additional independent director to its board and "will consider Blackwells' input in this selection."
Ashford shares closed July 25 at $4.96, up nearly 35% year to date but down more than 46% over the past 12 months. Its market capitalization July 25 was about $17.1 million. Ashford reported revenue of $746.8 million in 2023.
