US-based LaSalle Hotel Properties has sold seven million shares of common stock in a secondary offering to Goldman Sachs, raising $222.6m.

The company also granted the underwriter an option to purchase up to 1,050,000 additional shares.

LaSalle will use the net proceeds of this offering to fund all or a portion of the cost of future hotel acquisitions, including the potential acquisition of a hotel property located in a major US market.

The company also plans to use some of the proceeds to pay down its debts.

LaSalle Hotel Properties is a multi-operator real estate investment trust that owns 35 upscale, full-service hotels, with a total of 8,700 guestrooms in 13 markets in nine US states.