Paulson & Co Trims Extended Stay America / ESH Hospitality Position

John Paulson's hedge fund firm Paulson & Co filed a 13D with the SEC regarding its position in Extended Stay America (STAY).  Per the filing, Paulson now owns 10.3% of STAY with over 20 million shares.

This is a decrease of over 8.54 million shares since the end of 2016 when they previously owned 28.6 million STAY shares.  These are paired shares with ESH Hospitality which Paulson also owns and they trimmed that position proportionately as well. 

Paulson sold some STAY shares on March 10th at $16.70 per a Form 4 filed with the SEC.  We previously highlighted that Paulson trimmed this position back in November as well.

Per Google Finance, Extended Stay America is "an integrated owner/operator of Company-branded hotels in North America. The Company operates in hotel operations segment. The Company's business operates in the extended stay sector of the lodging industry. As of December 31, 2016, the Company owned and operated 629 hotels comprising approximately 69,400 rooms located in 44 states across the United States and in Canada. The Company owns and operates its hotels under its brand, Extended Stay America, which serves the mid-price extended stay sector. As of December 31, 2016, the Company also owned and operated three Extended Stay Canada hotels. The Company operates its hotels owned by ESH Hospitality, Inc. (ESH REIT). The hotels are operated by the Operating Lessees, subsidiaries of the Company and are managed by ESA Management LLC (ESA Management), a subsidiary of the Company. ESH Strategies, a subsidiary of the Company, owns the brands related to its business."

Paulson & Co Sells Some Extended Stay America / ESH Hospitality

John Paulson's hedge fund firm Paulson & Co has submitted numerous SEC filings regarding its position in Extended Stay America (STAY) and ESH Hospitality.

Per a Form 4, Paulson sold 4.67 million shares of STAY and ESH Hospitality on November 18th at $14.76 as part of a secondary offering.  Following this sale, Paulson & Co still owns 16.8% of the company with 33 million shares of STAY.

You can see the rest of Paulson & Co's portfolio in the newly released issue of our Hedge Fund Wisdom newsletter.

Extended Stay America and ESH Hospitality are paired shares.  Per the filing, "Each paired share is comprised of one share of common stock of Extended Stay America and one share of Class B common stock of ESH Hospitality, which shares are paired and traded as a single unit.

Per Google Finance, Extended Stay America is "an integrated owner/operator of company-branded hotels in North America. The Company operates in hotel operations segment. Its business operates in the extended stay lodging industry. It owns and operates approximately 630 hotels comprising over 69,400 rooms located in approximately 40 states across the United States and in Canada. It owns and operates its hotels under its core brand, Extended Stay America, which serves the mid-price extended stay segment. In addition, it owns and operates over three Extended Stay Canada hotels. It operates its hotels owned by ESH Hospitality, Inc. (ESH REIT). The hotels are operated by the Operating Lessees, subsidiaries of the Company and are managed by ESA Management LLC (ESA Management), a subsidiary of the Company. ESH Strategies, a subsidiary of the Company, owns the brands related to its business. The Company's extended stay hotels are designed to provide lodging or apartment accommodations." 

This is the second time Paulson has trimmed its Extended Stay America position in the past few months.