market folly

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.