CHICAGO — Cushman & Wakefield has announced the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) of 45 million of its ordinary shares at a price to the public of $17 per share. The shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and will trade under the symbol “CWK” beginning today. In addition, Cushman & Wakefield has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 6.75 million ordinary shares at the public offering price less underwriting discounts and commissions. The Chicago-based real estate firm expects to use the net proceeds from the ordinary shares to reduce outstanding indebtedness. In particular, the firm plans to repay its second-lien loan, to pay the outstanding amount of the deferred payment obligation related to its acquisition of Cassidy Turley and any remaining net proceeds for general corporate purposes. Cushman & Wakefield filed for its IPO in June. Underwriters include a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and UBS Investment Bank.
IRVINE, CALIF. — Irvine-based real estate investment trust HCP (NYSE: HCP) has entered into a definitive agreement to form a new $605 million joint venture with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment (MSREI) on a 2 million-square-foot medical office building portfolio. MSREI will provide cash to the joint venture for a 49 percent stake, while HCP will contribute nine wholly owned medical office buildings valued at approximately $320 million. These assets, located primarily in Texas and Florida, comprise 1.2 million square feet of leasable space and are 80 percent occupied. The joint venture will use the cash contributed by MSREI to fund the $285 million acquisition of a medical office portfolio in Greenville, S.C. Healthcare Trust of America Inc. (NYSE: HTA) has agreed to sell the Greenville portfolio, which includes 16 medical office buildings totaling approximately 856,000 square feet. HTA originally acquired the portfolio in 2009 for $163 million as part of a sale-leaseback transaction. HCP and MSREI will immediately market for sale three of the smaller assets within the Greenville portfolio, leaving the venture with a combined 832,000 square feet of leasable space. Greenville Health System, the largest health system in South Carolina, occupies 94 percent of the portfolio’s square …
CLEVELAND — Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM) has agreed to acquire Cleveland-based Forest City Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: FCEA) in an all-cash transaction valued at $11.4 billion. The price includes Forest City’s consolidated and unconsolidated debt, which totals approximately $4.6 billion. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, Brookfield will acquire Forest City for $25.35 per share. This figure represents a 26 percent premium over Forest City’s closing stock price of $20.03 per share on June 15, the day reports of the merger surfaced, as well as a 9 percent increase over the closing price of $22.99 per share on July 30. Forest City’s portfolio is mostly comprised of assets in gateway markets. The company’s holdings by property type span 6.3 million square feet of office space, 2.2 million square feet of retail space and 18,500 multifamily units. Flagship properties include the 52-story New York Times building in Manhattan and Pacific Park, a massive mixed-use development surrounding Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Additional components of the portfolio include 2.3 million square feet of life science properties, mostly located in Cambridge, Mass. Forest City also has five large-scale projects …
BALTIMORE AND ATLANTA — Armada Hoffler Properties Inc. (NYSE: AHH), a commercial real estate developer and investor based in Virginia Beach, is participating in two new mixed-use projects in Baltimore and Atlanta. The REIT’s wholly owned subsidiary, Armada Hoffler Construction Co., will serve as general contractor for both developments. In Baltimore’s Inner Harbor East district, Armada Hoffler is developing Wills Wharf, a 12-story mixed-use building that will anchor the 27-acre Harbor Point development. Armada Hoffler co-developed the other components of Harbor Point with Beatty Development Group, including the 500,000-square-foot Exelon mixed-use tower, the 260,000-square-foot Thames Street Wharf office building and Point Street Apartments. Situated on the waterfront of the Inner Harbor, the $117 million Wills Wharf project will span 325,000 square feet of office and retail space and will feature a 156-room Canopy by Hilton hotel on the top four floors. Armada Hoffler expects to deliver the building in the first quarter of 2020. “Wills Wharf represents the latest evolution of a relationship with the principals of Beatty Development Group that has spanned over two decades,” says Louis Haddad, president and CEO of Armada Hoffler Properties. “We are excited to continue our relationship with Beatty Development Group in leading Baltimore’s …
PROVIDENCE, R.I. AND MINNEAPOLIS — Natural and organic products distributor United Natural Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI) has agreed to acquire grocery retailer Supervalu Inc. (NYSE: SVU) for $2.9 billion. UNFI, which distributes to Whole Foods Market and other grocery chains, will pay $32.50 per share in cash for Supervalu, according to a joint statement. The deal includes the assumption of outstanding debt and liabilities. Steve Spinner, UNFI’s current CEO, will lead the combined entity. Sean Griffin, UNFI chief operating officer, will head the Supervalu integration efforts and lead an integration committee comprised of executives from both companies. Reasons cited for the acquisition were a diversified customer base, more cross-selling opportunities, larger market reach and scale. and an estimated $175 million in efficiency savings over the first three years. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Supervalu is one of the largest grocery wholesalers and retailers in the U.S., distributing to 3,437 stores. Supervalu operates 29 distribution centers serving 48 states and 114 grocery stores. Fiscal-year 2018 annual sales were approximately $14 billion. UNFI specializes in “healthier food options” and distributes more than 110,000 products to 43,000 customer locations including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, ecommerce retailers and food service customers. “We have been executing an ambitious strategic transformation for over two …
DALLAS AND HOUSTON — Dallas-based Veritex Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: VBTX), the parent company of Veritex Community Bank, and Houston-based Green Bancorp (NASDAQ: GNBC) have entered into an agreement that will merge Green and its subsidiaries with the Veritex brand. The transaction, which is valued at approximately $1 billion, will create a new lending institution with $7.5 billion in assets that will operate 43 branches across the state. The deal calls for Green’s shareholders to receive 0.79 shares of Veritex common stock for each share of Green common stock. The stocks are currently trading at about $32.77 per share for Veritex and $25.89 per share for Green. Closing is expected to occur during the first quarter of 2019.
More apartments are being rented in Southern Connecticut, which is benefiting multifamily properties in the Fairfield County/New Haven region in several important ways. For New Haven, this means the return of rent growth. In Fairfield County, the added demand for rentals continues to support new development. An improved outlook for both markets has also positively influenced investment activity. In 2017, multifamily operators in the New Haven metropolitan area had one of their best years since the recession, thanks to improvements on multiple fronts. Appeal for apartments has generated the second-highest net absorption level so far this decade. Demand increased in the city itself, where Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital offer numerous employment opportunities, as well as in the surrounding greater New Haven suburbs. Absorption of rental units surpassed that of deliveries by a multiple of three, facilitating a major drop in vacancy. The metro’s overall vacancy rate at the end of the first quarter was 4.7 percent, 270 basis points below where it was just two years ago. Equally important, healthier demand has also aided rent values. Monthly effective rates started to rise in 2017 after retreating in 2015 and 2016, with rent growth nearing 6 percent year over …
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW) plans to build a new $285 million headquarters campus in Nashville’s central business district (CBD) for Asurion, a privately held tech solutions firm. The Nashville-based company specializes in providing insurance and warranty plans covering mobile devices and other consumer electronics. Asurion will consolidate four of its existing local offices into the new campus, as well as create 400 new information technology jobs, according to local media reports. Highwoods, a Raleigh-based REIT that now has a development pipeline exceeding $700 million, recently executed the 551,000-square-foot build-to-suit office lease with Asurion. The tech firm will occupy 98.3 percent of the campus under a long-term lease. Nashville has been a haven for employment gains since the downturn. In the past decade, the Middle Tennessee metro has experienced 25 percent job growth, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Nashville MSA’s unemployment rate was 2.3 percent in May 2018. The Asurion campus will be built on a 4.2-acre site located at Church Street and 11th Avenue North along the Gulch Greenway, a seven-mile urban trail. The development will include two buildings rising eight and nine stories built atop a six-level parking podium. The planned parking …
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — A joint venture between Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has acquired the 47-acre Santa Monica Business Park for approximately $627.5 million. The seller was not disclosed. Santa Monica Business Park consists of 21 buildings totaling roughly 1.2 million square feet of office and retail space in Santa Monica, a coastal city just west of downtown Los Angeles. The property is located near Interstates 10 and 405 and features a variety of on-site services, including a health club, restaurants, banks, a car wash and a dog park. The property lies within the Ocean Park neighborhood and was 94 percent leased at the time of sale. Boston Properties will invest $147.4 million in the acquisition, yielding a 45 percent ownership stake, while CPPIB will invest $180.1 million. An undisclosed lender provided a $300 million acquisition loan to fund the remainder of the acquisition. The loan features a 4.06 percent interest rate and matures in July 2025. Approximately 70 percent of the rentable square footage is subject to a ground lease with 80 years remaining, including renewal periods. The ground lease provides the joint venture with the right to purchase the land …
STOCKTON, CALIF. — Newport Beach-based CT has completed the sale of two newly constructed industrial buildings within its NorCal Logistics Center in Stockton. Prologis acquired the properties for $47 million. Totaling 575,127 square feet, the assets mark the initial completion of CT’s three-building Phase I development of the larger 4.4 million-square-foot NorCal Logistics Center. Prologis paid approximately $82 per square feet for the buildings, which were unleased and in shell condition at closing. Cushman & Wakefield’s Kevin Dal Porto, Blake Rasmussen and John McManus represented CT, while Prologis was self-represented in the deal. Situated on a 345-acre site, NorCal Logistics Center is home to General Mills, KeHE Foods, Allen Distributors and Fox Head.