Eagle Hospitality Trust executes US$341m interest rate swap

EAGLE Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (EH-Reit) has entered into a US$341 million interest rate swap agreement with Bank of the West in the United States.

This consists of three swap transactions of about US$133.67 million with a three-year tenure, US$103.67 million with a four-year tenure and US$103.67 million with a five-year tenure. The percentage of floating debt hedged is 90.7 per cent.

Following the interest rate swap, the overall cost of borrowing will be lowered to 3.41 per cent per year from 3.69 per cent per year, representing savings of US$1.36 million per year. The US$341 million of interest rate swap transactions represent 67.2 per cent of Eagle Hospitality Trust's (EHT) borrowings. 

This is in line with the Reit manager's capital management strategy to mitigate interest-rate volatility on at least 75 per cent of its borrowings, EHT said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday.