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Colonial Properties Trust Exits Joint Ventures, Acquires Asset and Completes Long-Term Financing

^{Published on 2010-07-03 03:20:45 - Market Wire}
 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP), a real estate investment trust (REIT), announced continued progress in simplifying its business and extending its debt maturities.

"These transactions highlight our commitment and success in simplifying the business and extending our debt maturities. Both initiatives are top priorities for us, and we will continue to execute on our 2010 initiatives throughout the year."

The Company exited two single asset multifamily joint ventures with funds managed by DRA Advisors LLC (DRA) totaling 664 units, in which the Company had a 20% ownership interest. Pursuant to the transaction, which closed June 30, the Company transferred its 20% ownership interest in Colonial Village at Cary and made a net cash payment of $2.7 million in exchange for DRAa™s 80% ownership in the 345-unit Colonial Grand at Riverchase Trails located in Birmingham, Alabama. Additionally, the Company paid off the $19.3 million loan securing Colonial Grand at Riverchase Trails in which the Company now owns 100%. The loan was set to mature in October 2010. DRA now owns 100% of the 319-unit Colonial Village at Cary located in Raleigh, North Carolina and they assumed the existing secured mortgage. The Company will continue to manage Colonial Village at Cary pursuant to an existing management agreement. The acquisition was funded by borrowings on the Companya™s unsecured line of credit and proceeds from common stock issuances through the Companya™s at-the-market equity program.

The Company also closed $73.2 million of secured financings originated by Berkadia Commerical Mortgage LLC for repurchase by Fannie Mae. The financings are collateralized by three multifamily properties and have a 10-year term that carries an interest rate of 5.02%. Proceeds from the financings were used to pay down outstanding borrowings on the Companya™s unsecured line of credit.

Thomas H. Lowder, the Companya™s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, noted, aThese transactions highlight our commitment and success in simplifying the business and extending our debt maturities. Both initiatives are top priorities for us, and we will continue to execute on our 2010 initiatives throughout the year.a

About Colonial Properties Trust

Colonial Properties Trust is a REIT that creates value for its shareholders through a multifamily focused portfolio and the management and development of select commercial assets in the Sunbelt region of the United States. As of March 31, 2010, the company owned or managed 34,230 apartment units, 17.8 million square feet of commercial space. Headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, Colonial Properties Trust is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLP and is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index

Safe Harbor Statement

aSafe Harbora Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this press release may constitute, aforward-looking statementsa within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the companya™s actual results, performance, achievements or transaction expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include, among others, real estate conditions and markets, including recent deterioration of the economy and high unemployment in the U.S., together with the downturn in the overall U.S. housing market resulting in weakness in the multifamily market and the extent, strength and duration of the current recession or recovery; exposure, as a multifamily focused REIT, to risks inherent in investments in a single industry; ability to obtain financing on reasonable rates, if at all; performance of affiliates or companies in which we have made investments; changes in operating costs; higher than expected construction costs; uncertainties associated with the timing and amount of real estate disposition and the resulting gains/losses associated with such dispositions; legislative or regulatory decisions; the companya™s ability to continue to maintain its status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; price volatility, dislocations and liquidity disruptions in the financial markets and the resulting impact on availability of financing; the effect of any rating agency action on the cost and availability of new debt financings; level and volatility of interest or capitalization rates or capital market conditions; effect of any terrorist activity or other heightened geopolitical crisis; or other factors affecting the real estate industry generally.

Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the company assumes no responsibility to update the information in this press release.