Saturday, August 30, 2008

Southern Cross Healthcare Agrees to £31.1 Million Sale Leaseback of Nine UK Care Homes

RTTNews - August 29, 2008

Southern Cross Healthcare, a provider of UK care home services, announced the sale and long-term leaseback of the freehold interests in nine care homes to a subsidiary of Daejan Holdings Plc for £31.1 million.

The gross asset value of the nine freehold interests is £37.2 million. The company said it would incur a book loss of £6.1 million on completion of the sale. It will pay £2.5 million for these homes as annual rent (8.0% cap rate.)

The company said it will use the proceeds from the divestment to partially pay down two syndicated credit facilities and a bilateral credit facility put in place earlier this year to fund additional acquisitions and developments.

Further, Bill Colvin, chief executive of Southern Cross, said, "Discussions are ongoing with other potential purchasers regarding further 20 freeholds to be divested and the proceeds from any sale will also be used to further reduce borrowings. Southern Cross is continuing to discuss with its banking syndicate the provision of longer term funding arrangements for the Group." Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Life Time Fitness Complets $100 Millon Sale Leaseback of Four US Fitness Centers

MarketWatch / Business Wire - August 25, 2008

Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH) today announced that it has acquired four health and wellness centers operated by Life Time Fitness, Inc. (LTM) for $100 million. Simultaneously, SNH entered into a long term lease arrangement with Life Time Fitness for these same properties.

The rent payable by Life Time Fitness to SNH for these four health and wellness centers will be $9.1 million per year (9.1% cap rate), plus fixed increases during the lease term. These health and wellness centers have a lease term ending in 2028, plus tenant renewal options thereafter. SNH has funded this transaction by drawing under its revolving bank credit facility.

Senior Housing Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust which owns independent and assisted living communities, nursing homes, rehabilitation hospitals, wellness centers and medical office buildings throughout the United States. SNH is headquartered in Newton, MA. Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, August 24, 2008

AT&T Completes $72 Million Sale Leaseback of Atlanta Office Complex

Jones Lang LaSalle Web Site - August 22, 2008

Jones Lang LaSalle announced today it has closed the sale and leaseback of the two-building complex in Atlanta’s Northlake/Lavista submarket for AT&T. Equity Capital Management purchased the 406,292 square foot complex for $72 million.

At closing, AT&T executed a long-term leaseback for for both 2245 and 2247 Northlake Parkway in Tucker, Georgia, signaling its continued commitment to the facility and market.

This transaction marks the first closing within the Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets group by a newly-merged/legacy Staubach team. Managing Directors Jay Koster (New York) and Brad Armstrong (Atlanta) completed this assignment along with Vice Presidents Mike Hochanadel and Chris Wagner. The same transaction team completed the $275.2 million, 1.1 million square foot, sale-leaseback of Lenox Park, located in Atlanta’s Buckhead submarket, for AT&T in May of this year.

The Class-A property is located in the northeast Atlanta metropolitan area in the city of Tucker. It has immediate access to I-285 and is just three miles from the I-85/I-285 junction. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is less than 25 minutes away, and the property is just 15 minutes from Dekalb Peachtree Airport. The building known as 2245 Northlake Parkway has three stories and was built in 1980. The building known as 2247 Northlake Parkway is a 10-story building built in 2000. Combined, the properties have more than 1,500 parking spaces, both structured and surface. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, August 22, 2008

General Reinsurance Signs 20 Year Lease for Stamford HQ

BNET / Real Estate Weekly - August 20, 2008

A team that recently joined Jones Lang LaSalle through its merger with The Staubach Company has completed a new direct lease transaction for General Reinsurance Corp. at Building and Land Technology's Long Ridge Corporate Center campus in Stamford, Conn. The reinsurance company signed a 20-year lease for the entire 310,000 s/f 120 Long Ridge Road office building.

The tenant was represented by Brian Higgins, managing director--brokerage, Jay Koster, managing director--capital markets, and Chris Kraus, managing director--brokerage, all with Jones Lang LaSalle's New York office. The team worked closely with Michael A. Rea, vice president with Gen Re, throughout the process. Property owner Building and Land Technology was represented in-house by Carl Kuehner, chief executive officer, and Paul Kuehner, chief financial officer.

Gen Re is relocating to 120 Long Ridge Road from 695 East Main Street, also known as Financial Centre, which had served as the reinsurer's headquarters for the past 25 years. The company's master lease at Financial Centre is set to expire in 2010. Gen Re plans to occupy its new headquarters space at 120 Long Ridge Road in late 2009. Sphere: Related Content

AT&T Completes $345 Million Sale Leaseback of Dallas HQ

Atlanta Business Chronicle - August 20, 2008

An otherwise pretty mundane summer 2008 in the Atlanta commercial real estate marketplace is closing out with the biggest of bangs, thanks to a mega-deal involving several big names and a high-profile property.

In a blockbuster, $345 million transaction that closed Aug. 14, global telecommunications provider AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) entered into a sale-leaseback agreement for AT&T Tower, the 1.8 million-square-foot building at 675 West Peachtree St. that is the most visible component of its three-building Southeastern regional headquarters complex.

AT&T sold the landmark 47-story Midtown building — which was known as the BellSouth Tower until the $86 billion AT&T/BellSouth merger in 2006 — to a wholly owned subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P., a holding company headed by billionaire financier and investor Carl Icahn. As part of the transaction, AT&T agreed to lease the building back on an unspecified mid- to long-term basis.

On the brokerage side, the deal was negotiated by a Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. capital markets team comprising managing directors Jay Koster and Brad Armstrong, along with vice presidents Mike Hochanadel and Chris Wagner. Koster and Hochanadel are based in JLL’s New York office, while Armstrong and Wagner are part of the real estate services provider’s Atlanta operations. Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Tesco Completes $1.1 Billion Sale Leaseback of 13 UK Stores & Distribution Center

Bloomberg - August 21, 2008

Tesco Plc, the U.K.'s biggest retailer, sold properties to real-estate investors for 605 million pounds ($1.1 billion), its fourth such disposal in two years, freeing up capital for overseas expansion.

The 13 stores and a distribution center were purchased by four buyers, including investment arms of insurers Prudential Plc and Sun Life Financial Inc., and represent 2.4 percent of the value of the grocer's stores, Cheshunt, England-based Tesco said today. The company is leasing back the properties for 20 years, with the right to extend the contracts.

Tesco has about 1,780 U.K. outlets. It gets more than 25 percent of its sales abroad and entered the U.S. last year. Over the past two years, rising values for property assets had lured investors to retailers such as J Sainsbury Plc, which rebuffed demands for a real-estate split.

``Tesco freehold property sales show that there is still good pension-fund appetite for supermarkets,'' analyst Nick Bubb of Pali International said in an e-mailed note.

The disposal is part of Tesco's plan, announced two years ago, to raise 5 billion pounds through property sales, of which it has so far raised 2 billion pounds, including today's announcement.

The stores all pay landlords a return of at least 4.88 percent on their investment as a percentage of the purchase price, Tesco said. The company has estimated the value of all of its real estate at 31 billion pounds.

One of the buyers was the Universities Superannuation Scheme, Britain's second-largest pension fund, which runs money for academics and college staff. Tesco formed a joint venture with USS that will own the property.

The rest of the properties were bought by Prudential Plc's Prupim property-investment arm, Sun Life's Canada Life division, and LaSalle Investment Management, a unit of commercial real- estate broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Sphere: Related Content

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Bulgarian Telecom Planning EUR 300 Million Sale Leaseback of 100 Properties

Estates Gazette is reporting that Bulgaria’s former state telecom operator Bulgarian Telecommunications Co (BTC) is seeking international investors for a large 20-year sale-and-leaseback transaction.

The company will reportedly market a €300m portfolio of its most valuable 100 sites in September, including the Telecom Palace in Sophia, which could be redeveloped. BTC will lease back some of the offices and warehouses for up to 20 years, offering the rest for development. The initial yield on the 3.2m sq ft portfolio will be 10%.

Cushman & Wakefield affiliate Forton International is representing BTC which is reviewing whether it needs to own any of its 2,000 properties. BTC wants to release equity to invest in core operations.

BTC was privatised in 2004 and is now owned by US insurance giant AIG. Sphere: Related Content

Canadian Tire Agrees to CAN $174 Million Sale Leaseback of 12 Stores Across Canada

The Chronicle Herald - August 19, 2008

Hard goods retailer Canadian Tire Corp. says it has struck a deal to sell and lease back 12 of its store properties for $174 million. Canadian Tire said late Monday the company will book a pre-tax gain on the sale of about $70 million. The transaction is subject to Competition Act approval and is expected to close in September.

The properties are located across Canada and include recently built or expanded Canadian Tire stores. Six of the properties also have a Mark’s Work Wearhouse outlet, the retailer’s clothing division.

Canadian Tire owns about 74 per cent of its store network and leases the rest of its other retail properties. The properties sold Monday represent about four per cent of Canadian Tire’s total real estate portfolio.

"While we continue to see real value in owning the majority of our real estate assets, carefully selected sale-leasebacks enable us to monetize the value of select properties creating financial flexibility while maintaining our overall operating flexibility." said Tom Gauld, president and CEO of the company.

"The properties included in this transaction are locations featuring stores that are either new or recently expanded so we do not see a need to relocate these stores in the foreseeable future. "This enables us to monetize these sites at attractive rates while creating financial flexibility."

Canadian Tire did not identify the buyer or buyers of the retail properties. Earlier this summer, however, the company sold an Ottawa store property for $40 million to RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Canada’s largest shopping mall owner, in a sale-leaseback deal.

In its release late Monday, Canadian Tire said it will continue to selectively look at cashing in on its extensive real estate assets, including two urban Canadian Tire stores and an Eastern Canada warehouse announced earlier this year.

Canadian Tire operates 1,170 general merchandise and apparel retail stores and gasoline stations across Canada. The company, with 57,000 employees, sells auto parts, sports and lesure equipment and home products. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, August 15, 2008

Longs Drug Stores to Pursue $1 Billion Sale Leaseback of Drug Stores, Distribution Centers and Office Buildings

The Modesto Bee - August 13, 2008

Longs Drug Stores, a regional drugstore chain based in Walnut Creek, is being acquired by industry giant CVS Caremark Corp., based in Woonsocket, R.I.

The $2.9 billion acquisition will make CVS Caremark the largest drugstore chain in California, with 830 stores. The company is the leading provider of prescriptions in the United States, and with the acquisition of the 521 Longs stores, it will operate 6,800 drugstores in 41 states and the District of Columbia.

One of the big attractions to buying Longs, said Tom Ryan, CVS chairman, president and chief executive officer, is gaining a strong market position in Central and Northern California and Hawaii. The two chains have few overlapping stores, according to Ryan. The Central and Northern California markets are difficult to enter because of the lack of available drugstore sites, Ryan said. Expanding into the markets by developing its own stores would have taken CVS about 10 years, he said.

Part of the cost of buying the Longs stores would be raised by selling the store properties that Longs owns, along with three distribution centers and three office buildings. The properties would be leased back to CVS, Ryan said. He estimated the value of the Longs properties at $1 billion.

The sale is subject to Longs shareholder approval and federal review. It is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of this year. Sphere: Related Content

Sears Completes $56.1 Million Sale Leaseback of Warehouse in PA

Cityfeet.com / GlobeSt.com - August 13, 2008

Sears Holdings Corp. has sold its one-million-sf distribution center at Covington Industrial Park to San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate Co.'s US Industrial REIT II. Published reports say the build-to-suit facility, which opened in April with Sears Logistics Services as its long-term tenant, changed hands for $56.1 million.

James Sheehan, senior director with Cushman & Wakefield Inc.'s Philadelphia office, tells GlobeSt.com that a sizable, brand-new facility like this is "extremely appealing to large institutional investors." Sheehan arranged the sale along C&W's Jerome Kranzel, Jeff Williams, Steve Cooper, Gerry Blinebury and James Vesey.

Completed in 2007, the building is the newest and largest of four facilities at the 800-acre industrial park, developed by Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust. It offers 32-foot clear heights, tilt-up concrete walls, ESFR sprinklers, cross-docking and additional trailer storage. Although a confidentiality agreement prevents him from disclosing the per-sf rates that Sears Logistics is paying, Sheehan says industrial rents in the northeastern Pennsylvania corridor range from "the high $3 to $4 range."

First Industrial had secured the Hoffman Estates, IL-based Sears as a build-to-suit tenant in in March 2007. The Sears site is in a portion of the park designated as a Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone, which provides certain tax abatements through 2013. At that time, GlobeSt.com reported Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development and the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce provided Sears with $90,000 in customized job-training funds. Sphere: Related Content

ECI Seeking $42 Million Sale Leaseback on Petah Tikva HQ

Globes - August 14, 2008

Sources inform ''Globes'' that ECI Telecom Ltd. wants to sell its Petah Tikva headquarters for NIS 150 million in a sale and lease-back deal in long-term contract. The company has already contacted a number of insurance companies about a deal.

This is not the first time that ECI has sought to sell the building. Three months ago, it published a tender for the sale of all its properties for NIS 350 million. The tender included the headquarters, building rights on the same lot in Petah Tikva, and an additional lot in Givat Shmuel. The tender was closed in May after no bids were filed, apparently because the development aspects of the lands on offer were of no interest to insurance companies. Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, August 10, 2008

HVB Seeking Sale Leaseback of 200 Bank Branches in Germany

ADVFN News / Thomson Financial - August 8, 2008

Bayerische Hypo-und-Vereinsbank (HVB), the German unit of UniCredit Spa, is looking for buyers of its estimated 200 branch building under a sale and leaseback deal arrangement, according to Financial Times Deutschland, citing a spokesman for HVB.

It said HVB wants to sell its building properties, including those housing the main administration offices in Munich and Hamburg, to some real estate investors.

It said HVB wants to generate a mid-range three-digit million euros proceeds and is aiming to complete the deal by the end of the year. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, August 08, 2008

Northrup Grumman Signs Long Term Lease For Office Tower in El Sugundo, CA

Cityfeet / GlobeSt.com - August 6, 2008

Northrop Grumman Corp. has signed a 10-year, $120 million lease for all 333,000 sf at the 16-story, 101 Continental Blvd. office tower in one of the largest office leases in El Segundo in years. Although others involved in the deal declined to comment, citing confidentiality agreements, Northrop spokesman Brooks McKinney confirms that the aerospace giant will be expanding into the 101 Continental building, which is owned by Los Angeles-based Barker Pacific Group and Prudential Real Estate Investors.

Northrop Grumman is expected to begin moving into the building in phases, beginning in early December, and should fully occupy the building by July of next year. Xerox Corp. has leased space in the building since 1983 and still occupies a portion of the 16-story tower, which was built in 1972 and formerly was known as Xerox Centre. Xerox is slated to move out of its remaining space before the move-in by Northrop Grumman.

According to a report last year on GlobeSt.com, the owners of the 101 Continental building were marketing it as a multi-tenant property, rather than the single-tenant facility that it will be when Northrop Grumman moves in. Barker Pacific Group at the time said that it planned a $30 million renovation of the office tower to transform it to class A multi-tenant space, but how much of the $30 million in renovations will be necessary remains in question now that the office tower will be a single-tenant facility as opposed to multi-tenant.

McKinney tells GlobeSt.com that Northrop Grumman needs the 333,000 sf at 101 Continental for expansion of its Integrated Systems and Information Technology sectors, plus some space for corporate office administrative and engineering support functions. The aerospace giant has been growing of late, reporting a year-over-year earnings increase to $483 million from $472 million and a revenue boost of 10% to $8.6 billion for the second quarter ended June 30. Sphere: Related Content

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