Johnson Capital Acts as Lead Adviser to Winston Hotels Joint Venture

Business Wire, Jan 17, 2003

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2003

Johnson Capital's Investment Banking Group has acted as lead adviser to Winston Hotels Inc. (NYSE:WXH), a real estate investment trust and owner of premium limited-service, upscale extended-stay and full-service hotels, based in Raleigh, N.C. to create a joint venture with Boston-based Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC to acquire more than $100 million of hotel assets.

Charlesbank is a private investment firm managing capital on behalf of a range of institutional investors.

Winston will serve as managing member of the investment entity, which will target limited-service, upscale extended stay, and small, full-service branded hotels in secondary and primary markets.

The investment entity will focus on acquisitions that have turnaround or upside potential and can benefit from additional capital and aggressive asset management, which often includes renovating, repositioning, rebranding or a change in management.

With headquarters in Los Angeles, Johnson Capital's Investment Banking Group uniquely combines capital markets expertise with extensive hands-on commercial real estate experience.

The group's approach to raising capital combines an understanding of asset, portfolio, and entity-level issues with a knowledge of capitalization parameters to create the optimal capital structure, access the appropriate capital, and enhance the value of complex transactions.

The Investment Banking Group offers expertise concerning a broad range of private institutional equity capital requirements, including:

-- Joint Venture Financing

-- Entity-Level Capitalization and Recapitalization

-- Management-Led Buyouts of Public Companies

-- Discretionary Funds

-- Programmatic Financing

-- Individual Asset Financing

-- Portfolio Financing

Winston Hotels is a real estate investment trust specializing in the development, acquisition, repositioning and active asset management of premium limited-service, upscale extended-stay and full-service hotels, with a portfolio increasingly weighted toward the leading brands in the lodging industry's upscale segment.

Winston currently owns or is invested in 53 hotels with 7,266 rooms in 17 states, which includes: 45 wholly owned properties with 6,207 rooms, a 49 percent ownership interest in three joint venture hotels with 453 rooms, a 13 percent ownership interest in two joint venture hotels with 215 rooms, and a mezzanine financing interest in three hotels with 391 rooms.

Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC is a private investment firm with more than $2 billion of capital committed to acquisition and expansion financing for developing real estate assets and growing companies. The real estate team generally invests in equity or mezzanine debt structures, often with a strategic operator or developer who brings complementary expertise or market knowledge.

Typical equity investments range from $15 million to $50 million per transaction and may include acquisitions, development or redevelopment, repositioning or recapitalization.