VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP ("AHIP") (TSX: HOT.UN, HOT.U and HOT.DB.U) is pleased to announce that Jonathan Korol has been appointed its Chief Executive Officer effective October 7, 2020. Mr. Korol is a proven leader who brings a deep understanding of the North American hotel industry gathered over decades as an owner, operator and asset manager, making him the ideal candidate to assume the role of CEO.
Mr. Korol comes to his new role from SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts ("SilverBirch"), where he has been President since February 2017. At SilverBirch, Jonathan oversaw one of Canada's largest hotel owner/operators with a portfolio of close to 5,000 guest rooms operated under internationally recognized brands. Before becoming President, he led SilverBirch's Investment & Portfolio Management team as Senior Vice President, where he managed all of the firm's acquisition, disposition, development and asset management activities. Before joining SilverBirch, Mr. Korol co-founded Amadeus Property Partners, a private real estate investment fund focused on investing in select-service hotels and retail and multi-family properties in gateway markets throughout North America. He spent the formative part of his career at Apollo Real Estate Advisors (now Ares Management), where he was a Vice President focusing on equity and debt investing in all property types. Jonathan started his professional career as an Investment Banker with Merrill Lynch. He holds a B.Comm from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
"We are excited to announce the appointment of Jonathan as Chief Executive Officer. He is a seasoned real estate professional with significant experience across North America in all aspects of hospitality properties and has an impressive track record of success on both sides of the border," noted Michael Murphy, Chair of AHIP's Board of Directors (the "Board"). Mr. Murphy continued, "Jonathan's appointment was unanimously supported by our Board. We believe that his appointment will accelerate the execution of the next chapter of AHIP's strategic plan."
As CEO, Mr. Korol will lead the executive team at AHIP and will work with the Board to refine and fulfill AHIP's strategic plan. Mr. Korol will also oversee and work with AHIP's internal asset management and corporate finance teams to maximize the performance of AHIP's existing portfolio and identify suitable M&A and capital recycling strategies to ensure AHIP maintains an optimal mix of properties and capital to drive strong long-term value for AHIP's unitholders. While Jonathan will be based in Vancouver, he will be travelling frequently to review AHIP's portfolio and to meet with key partners as well as investors.
"I would like to thank the Board for providing me with this unique opportunity. I look forward to working with the Board and management team on the next exciting phase of AHIP's evolution," said Mr. Korol. He added, "I believe that AHIP's hotel portfolio, with its focus on premium branded select-service hotels in secondary "drive to" markets, is among the best positioned North American hospitality platforms to withstand and quickly recover from the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Mr. Korol will succeed John O'Neill, one of AHIP's co-founders, who has been Chief Executive Officer since October 2018 and who has advised the Board of his retirement.
"We thank John for his strong leadership over the past two years, particularly as AHIP navigated the unprecedented challenges faced by the U.S. hotel industry in light of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past six months. He also successfully led the sale of AHIP's Economy Lodging portfolio for $215.5 million and the concurrent redeployment of those proceeds into a portfolio of 12 premium branded hotels during latter 2019 to re-shape and improve the quality of our hotel portfolio. We will miss John's leadership and integrity but look forward to his continued support as one of AHIP's largest unitholders," said Mr. Murphy.
"It was an honour to lead AHIP over the past two years," said Mr. O'Neill. "I look forward to spending more time with my family in my retirement and pursuing some new endeavors. I will miss the amazing AHIP team and Board, but will continue to strongly support AHIP and Mr. Korol, who is an exceptional leader, as he takes the company forward." Mr. O'Neill added, "AHIP has indeed fared better than many hospitality companies in light of the impacts of COVID-19 and is well positioned to succeed and grow in the future. Since March, AHIP has restructured various of its debt facilities and received covenant waivers on most of its loans. Over the past two months, AHIP has also returned to aggregate occupancy levels above 50% and is once again generating positive cash flows."
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