Shaner Raises $100M for New Finance REIT

STATE COLLEGE, PA-Shaner Hotel Group reports it has formed Shaner Hospitality Finance, LLC with an initial capitalization of $100 million.

Shaner Hospitality Finance, LLC is a REIT that will provide equity and debt for a wide array of hotel financing needs, including funding for PIPS, refinancing, purchasing existing loans and preferred equity infusions for acquisitions.

“This is our third hotel financing vehicle,” states Lance Shaner, chairman and CEO of SHG. “Each has been tailored to fill a gap to meet the hotel industry's specific financing needs at the time.”

Shaner notes that the hotel industry remains in a credit crunch with lenders remaining largely on the sidelines and a scarcity of new equity. “There is a significant number of quality, capital-starved hotels that with adequate funding can not only survive, but thrive," he says. "However, they need to restructure their capital stack, which often is a complex process that requires in-depth understanding of the hotel industry not found at most conventional financing firms.”

Plato Ghinos, president of SHG, adds, “We are not pursing 'loan-to-own' programs. Our goal is to place the company's initial $100 million capitalization within 12 months.”

The initial capitalization of the company is being provided by SHG and affiliates and by Almanac Realty Securities VI, L.P., an investment vehicle managed by New York City-based Almanac Realty Investors, LLC.