EHT securityholders with collective 6.1% stake seek representation in US court

NINE securityholders with a collective stake of 6.1 per cent in Eagle Hospitality Trust (EHT) have registered their interests in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, as EHT entities seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection there.

Documents lodged showed that these securityholders of EHT, who are members of an ad-hoc equity committee, are represented by the firms Brown Rudnick and Blank Rome.

The securityholders have submitted a statement under Rule 2019 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, which requires entities and committees representing more than one creditor or equity securityholder to provide certain disclosures.

As many as 27 entities in the EHT stable had filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan 18. EHT is a stapled trust comprising Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (EH-Reit) and the currently dormant Eagle Hospitality Business Trust (EH-BT).

Each of the nine members in the equity committee is a "beneficial holder of disclosable economic interests" related to the EHT entities, said the court documents. The securityholders jointly held 53.4 million units, or 6.1 per cent of the total number of stapled securities in issue.

Among them is Qian Jianrong, who owns a sizeable 47.6 million EHT securities. Mr Qian had been allocated 32.05 million stapled securities under the placement tranche of EHT's IPO.

He also subscribed for certain cornerstone stapled securities through DBS, which was one of the joint bookrunners and underwriters for the IPO. DBS was also the sole financial adviser and issue manager for EHT's listing.