Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Kesko Completes EUR 44 Million Sale Leaseback of 23 Stores in Finland

Kesko Web Site - September 30, 2008

The Kesko Group, the Kesko Pension Fund and Valluga-Sijoitus Oy have today sold 23 of their store properties in different parts of Finland to Aberdeen Property Fund Finland 1 Ky. The selling price is about 56 million euros, of which the Kesko Group's share is about 44 million euros. The Kesko Group's gain on the sale is about 16 million euros, which will be treated as a non-recurring item in Kesko's third quarter operating profit.

All of the above premises have been leased back for use by Kesko's division parent companies mainly under 5 or 10-year leases with extension options. The total lease liability for the properties sold by the Kesko Group is approximately 27 million euros (a 6.2% initial yield) and is not classified as a finance lease.

Of all the 23 properties included in the sale 20 are used by K-food store chains, and two by the K-rauta and Rautia chains. The sale also includes Kesko's Northern Finland district centre property in Oulu. The sale will not change the stores' operations. The total area of the properties sold is about 50,000 m2, of which the Kesko Group's share is about 35,000 m2

The aim of the property disposal is to enhance the use of the Kesko Group capital. The proceeds from the sale will be used to strengthen the store network in Finland and abroad,

At 31 December 2007, Kesko owned 1.0 million m2 of properties and had 2.6 million m2 of properties on leasehold in Finland and other Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and Russia. Kesko's store site investments were 189 million euros in 2007. Sphere: Related Content

Monday, September 29, 2008

Pep Boys Completes $77.5 Million Sale Leaseback of 22 Auto Parts Stores

CoStar Group - September 24, 2008

Corporate Partners Capital Group Inc., a Los Angeles-based company that specializes in structuring purchase-leaseback transactions with corporations, acquired 22 properties in various locations across the United States from The Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of California and Wachovia Development Corp. The aggregate purchase price was $77.5 million, or approximately $177.50 per square foot, and had an estimated cap rate of 7.5%.

The 22-retail properties total 474,434 square feet. The buyer entered into agreements to lease the properties back to be operated as Pep Boys stores.

Howard Sands of Corporate Partners Capital Group Inc. represented the buyer in-house. Harry Yanowitz, Alexander Spooner and Joe Cireli of Pep Boys and John Altmeyer of Wachovia represented the sellers in-house. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, September 26, 2008

Del Taco Completes $24 Million Sale Leaseback of 15 Store Restaurant Portfolio

Cityfeet / GlobeSt - September 24, 2008

A locally based group of investors in a 1031 exchange have acquired a 15-store portfolio from Del Taco restaurants in a sale-leaseback, according to Faris Lee Investments, which brokered the deal. The restaurants are located in Arizona, California and Nevada and were built between 1998 and 2002.

The buyer was Innovative Property Partners LLC, a group of investors based in Orange County, who were represented by Richard Walter and Dennis Vaccaro of Faris Lee, which is based in Irvine. Del Taco Corp., which represented itself in the transaction, executed 20-year absolute NNN leases with the buyer and will continue to operate the properties.

Del Taco was founded in 1961 and operates or franchisees more than 510 restaurants in 16 states. The company is based in the Orange County city of Lake Forest.

According to Walter, who is president of Faris Lee Investments, “Del Taco Corp. was interested in a quick sale of the properties, and we were able to close the sale in just 45 days, which also met the needs of the 1031 buyer.” Walter notes that closing on 15 different sites in three different states “required a great deal of work during the due diligence process” in order to close by the deadline and to meet the expectations of both the seller and the buyer.

Walter adds that Faris Lee Capital, the financing arm for Faris Lee, coordinated and placed the financing for the buyer, who was attracted to the long-term leases and well located properties. He notes that Faris Lee is seeking other sale-leaseback opportunities to match buyer needs with niche opportunities like this one." Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Citibank Seeking Sale Leaseback of 18 Bay Area Bank Branches

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - September 15, 2008

Citibank, the retail banking operation of financial services giant Citigroup Inc., has put 18 Bay Area branch locations on the market.

The locations for sale -- which include sites in Burlingame, San Mateo, Los Altos, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale -- are exceptional, said retail broker Don Tepman.

“Most, if not all, of these properties are very well located and I consider them to be among the Bay Area’s top real estate sites for retail,” Tepman said. “Rarely do we see product of this quality with such strong credit tenant backing.”

Citibank is offering to sell the locations and to sign 10-year leases plus options, according to an offering document. The company is promising annual 3 percent rent increases. The sites are for sale individually and en masse.

Citi has retained CB Richard Ellis to handle the offering. Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, September 14, 2008

State of California Enters 20 Year Lease for Highway Patrol HQ in Sacramento

GlobeSt.com - September 12, 2008

The state has inked a 20-year lease for a 285,000-sf, three-building low-rise campus here on behalf of the California Highway Patrol. Known as Continental Plaza, the buildings will be used to consolidate CHP’s administrative functions, which are now spread among several buildings in the Sacramento area. The law enforcement agency is slated to fill its new headquarters with 1,000 employees next September.

The state’s lease rate starts at $2.44 per sf per month, fully serviced with the exception of utilities, an information office with the state Department of General Services tells GlobeSt.com. The lease agreement includes a $41-million ($144 per-sf) tenant improvement allowance, annual rental rate bumps (approximately 1.5%) and a purchase option that may be exercised at the end of either year 10 or year 20. If exercised at year 10, the purchase price would be based on a 7% cap rate on the property’s NOI for year 11, according to DGS. If exercised at the end of the lease term, the purchase price would be based on a 7% cap rate on the NOI rent from year 19. If the state pays rent for 20 years, it would pay the property owner $193 million, according to DGS.

“The fact that Continental Plaza was an existing facility offered many benefits, including cost savings to the agency, an accelerated occupancy schedule and the reuse of an existing structure, [which is] part of the state’s ‘green’ strategy,” Newland says. Per state requirements, all three buildings will be renovated with the goal of receiving a LEED-NC-Silver certification from the US Green Building Council.

The property owner is Grove Investment Co. of Newport Beach, CA. Grubb & Ellis brokers Bill Newland, Clyde Rawlings and Toss Vallentine represented the building owner in the transaction. Cornish & Carey represented the state. Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Norske Skog Completes $75 Million Sale Leaseback of HQ in Norway

Reuters - September 9, 2008

Norwegian papermaker Norske Skog (NSG.OL) has sold its headquarters for 429.5 million Norwegian crowns ($75.76 million) and will book a gain of 230 million in the fourth quarter from the property sale, it said on Tuesday.

'The sale of the property is part of the work efforts to reduce Norske Skog's debts,' the company said in a statement.

Norske Skog simultaneously signed a lease agreement on the Oxenoen property in Lysaker with the new owners, Aspelin Ramm and Oslo housing and savings society OBOS, enabling it to stay in the building for some time, the company said. Sphere: Related Content

Monday, September 08, 2008

IRS Extends Offer to Settle LILO & SILO Law Suits

The Providence Journal / Bloomberg - September 6, 2008

The Internal Revenue Service gave 45 companies, including Providence-based Textron Inc. as well as utilities and banks, an extra month to decide whether to settle disputes over their use of a leasing tax shelter ruled improper by several courts.

In exchange for terminating the transactions, known as lease-in, lease-out or sale-in, lease-out deals, the companies can keep 20 percent of their savings and the IRS will waive some penalties.

The settlement offer involves shelters such as the one used by Wachovia Corp., which an appeals court ruled against in April. The bank said the ruling would cost it $975 million in back taxes.

The tax agency, in an announcement on its Web site, said companies have 60 days to respond to an offer letter it began sending on Aug. 6. The extension from 30 days was granted “to provide taxpayers with sufficient time to evaluate the offer,” the Web site says.

Under the terms of the IRS’ offers, the companies must use their best efforts to terminate the transactions by Dec. 31. In some cases, the IRS will give taxpayers until Dec. 31, 2010, to unwind the deals.

Companies must agree to concede 80 percent of all deductions associated with the transactions for taxes due in years before 2008. In exchange, the IRS won’t tax certain income generated by the transactions for the same years.

An IRS release said the government won’t agree to settle any of a taxpayer’s shelter-related tax issues unless the bank or company accepts the settlement terms for all of its lease transactions.

Companies have been trying to decide whether to accept the settlement or take their chances in court, said Ralph Izzo, chief executive officer of one of the 45 targeted companies, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., owner of New Jersey’s largest utility. The IRS has scored victories in federal courts against BB&T Corp., Fifth Third Bancorp and KeyCorp.

Izzo said at an investor conference that, in his company’s case, taking the settlement may exceed cash reserves it has set aside.

The settlement offer affects a “broad range of companies,” Shulman said last month. In addition to banks, companies such as Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. tobacco company, and Textron, maker of Cessna aircraft, engaged in the transactions.

The tax shelters, known by the acronyms LILO and SILO, entail letting banks or other companies to buy subway cars or other public assets and lease them back to cities or transit authorities. The banks and companies claimed tax deductions, such as depreciation on the equipment.

The leasing arrangements provided revenue to cities, transit systems, airport authorities and other municipal services.

Promoters of the transactions, such as Brussels-based Dexia SA, told clients that the arrangements would let buyers save on taxes as the assets depreciated, although the companies wouldn’t own or operate the equipment or services. The IRS challenged the arrangements in court, saying the purchase-and-lease transactions were shams designed to produce tax deductions on assets that the banks and companies never truly owned.

From 2001 to 2003, at least 16 U.S. companies bought transportation assets from cities through 35 leasing agreements. Other companies sought tax breaks by leasing municipal services, such as sewer lines in Germany and the Alamodome arena in San Antonio, as well as emergency 911 call centers in Chicago and air-traffic-control systems in Australia, Canada and France.

Shulman said about 1,000 separate transactions could be unwound as a result of the settlement. Sphere: Related Content

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