Waiting for Distress

Singapore-listed Eagle Hospitality Trust is holding a stalking-horse auction in May for a portfolio of 15 US hotels with a floor price of $470 million. Madison Phoenix LLC, an affiliate of Monarch Alternative Capital LP will purchase the portfolio if a better offer is not received in the auction.

Stalking-horse auctions are a routine part of many Chapter 11 bankruptcies, but for investors that have been waiting for distressed assets to come to market, this news was extraordinary.

Namely, the portfolio was one of the largest collection of distressed assets to come to market since the start of the pandemic. In fact, to date opportunities in distress investing have been sparse.