Omni boss now owns 21% of Gaylord

TRT Holdings, the investment fund that called for big changes at Gaylord Entertainment three years ago before taking two board seats, has this week beefed up by more than 60 percent its stake in the hotel and resort operator.

Texas-based TRT, which is run by Omni Hotels chairman Robert Rowling, has since Tuesday invested almost $100 million to buy more than 3.9 million Gaylord shares. That investment push brings TRT’s stake in Gaylord to 21.3 percent, just below the 22 percent threshold that would trigger the company’s shareholder rights plan — adopted shortly after Rowling first piled into Gaylord in the summer of 2008 and amended in March of the following year.