"stock"

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Cousins Properties Inc. (NYSE: CUZ) has acquired 816 Congress Avenue, a 434,000-square-foot, Class A office building located in downtown Austin. The company purchased the office tower for a net purchase price of $102.4 million, which equates to $236 per square foot. The acquisition was funded with cash proceeds from Cousins’ recent follow-on stock offering. “This represents another attractive acquisition for Cousins as we continue to target quality urban office assets in the best Southeastern submarkets at valuations below replacement cost,” says Larry Gellerstedt, president and CEO of Cousins. “We have a long, successful history in Austin and are very excited about the opportunity to create value at 816 Congress Avenue.” Cousins has played a prominent role in the Austin real estate market for more than 20 years, with a list of notable projects including Frost Bank Tower and Palisades West. 816 Congress Avenue is currently 78 percent leased to a diverse tenant base, including Teachers Retirement System of Texas, Lloyd Gosselink and AT&T Services. With overall office occupancy in the Austin CBD submarket at 89 percent, the building is well positioned for future occupancy growth, the company says. Cousins intends to utilize its market expertise and strong …

GREENWICH, CONN. — Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD) and Starwood Capital Group, on behalf of Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX, have finalized their previously announced acquisition of LNR Property LLC. Starwood Property Trust acquired the LNR business segments — the U.S. special servicer, the U.S. investment securities portfolio, Archetype Mortgage Capital, Archetype Financial Institution Services, LNR Europe and 50 percent of LNR’s interest in Auction.com — for an aggregate purchase price of $862 million. Greenwich-based Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a focus on global real estate. Since its inception in 1991, the firm has raised more than $16 billion in equity capital and has invested $13.7 billion representing more than $36 billion in assets. Starwood Property Trust focuses on originating, investing in, financing and managing commercial mortgage loans and other real estate-related debt investments. SPT Management LLC, an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, externally manages and advises Starwood Property Trust. The company’s stock price closed at $27.16 per share on Friday, up from $18.72 per share one year ago. Citigroup and Credit Suisse served as financial advisors to Starwood in the transaction and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal counsel. — Brittany Biddy

SAN FRANCISCO AND NEW YORK CITY — Union Bank, N.A., a San Francisco-based financial holding firm with $97 billion in assets, has reached an agreement with PB Capital Corp. to acquire its commercial real estate lending arm, headquartered in New York City. The arrangement gives Union Bank $3.7 billion in loans outstanding on properties in major U.S. metropolitan areas. The acquisition is subject to closing conditions and is expected close in the second quarter of this year. Approximately 50 percent of the lending portfolio is made up of Northeast properties with the rest in the Western U.S. (21 percent), South (15 percent) or Midwest (13 percent). New York City alone houses 35 percent of the portfolio. By property type, about 53 percent of the lending portfolio includes office followed by multifamily (16 percent), mixed-use (12 percent), hotel (10 percent) or retail (9 percent). Source: Union Bank PB Capital Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), a global banking and financial services firm based in Germany. Union Bank is a subsidiary of UnionBanCal Corp., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU). According to Union Bank’s investor presentation of the transaction, …

PHOENIX — Cole Credit Property Trust III (CCPT III) has closed on its previously announced acquisition of Cole Holdings Corp., a Phoenix-based real estate investment management firm that manages more than $12 billion in assets. CCPT III, a real estate investment trust focused on net-leased properties, will pursue a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, which is expected to occur in June. Upon a successful listing on the NYSE, CCPT III will be the second largest publicly traded REIT in the net-lease sector. In late March, CCPT III rejected a $5.7 billion buyout offer from American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP). The move would have created the largest publicly traded REIT in the net-lease sector. ARCP originally asked CCPT III to withdraw its proposed acquisition of Cole Holdings and consider its proposal, which the company claimed was superior. Nicholas Schorsch, chairman and chief executive of ARCP, said that if CCPT III goes through with the merger with Cole Holdings, ARCP would have to reconsider its bid and reduce its offer. “We are pleased to complete the acquisition of Cole Holdings, which provides our stockholders with additional growth potential and increased access to capital,” said Leonard Wood, chairman of the special …

SAN DIEGO AND BALTIMORE — BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: BMR) has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Wexford Science & Technology LLC, a subsidiary of Wexford Equities LLC, bolstering BioMed Realty’s position as a provider of real estate to the life science industry. Baltimore-based Wexford Science & Technology is a private real estate investment and development company that owns and develops institutional-quality life science real estate for academic and medical research organizations. The aggregate consideration for Wexford Science & Technology is approximately $640 million, excluding transaction costs and subject to adjustment based on working capital levels and construction and development costs incurred prior to closing. Wexford Science & Technology will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of BioMed Realty. “The combination of BioMed Realty and Wexford Science & Technology further expands our footprint into the university markets with high-quality assets, credit tenants and long-term leases,” says BioMed Realty’s Chairman and CEO Alan Gold. “In addition, it accelerates our growth as the leading provider of real estate to the life science industry.” Approximately $551 million of the initial consideration is for Wexford Science & Technology's operating portfolio, which includes about 1.6 million rentable square feet of newly developed, …