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iStar Financial Closes New $1.82 Billion Senior Secured Credit Facility

^{Published on 2012-10-15 19:00:40 - Market Wire}
 

iStar Financial Closes New $1.82 Billion Senior Secured Credit Facility -- NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- iStar Financial Inc. (NYSE: [ SFI ]) announced today that it has entered into a new $1.82 billion senior secured credit facility due October 15, 2017. The new term loan bears interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 4.50% with a 1.25% LIBOR floor and was issued at 99.0% of par. Proceeds from the new financing will be used to refinance the remaining balances of the Company's existing 2011 A-1 / A-2 secured credit facilities in their entirety.

"With this transaction, we have extended various secured debt maturities to 2017 and unencumbered certain liquid assets. This new financing, together with anticipated available cash, gives us additional flexibility to address our 2013 unsecured debt maturities," said Jay Sugarman , iStar's chairman and chief executive officer. "This financing improves our debt maturity profile and puts iStar on stronger footing, creating a five year window for us to focus on creating value in our existing platforms."

Outstanding borrowings under the new financing will be collateralized by a first lien on a fixed pool of approximately $2.29 billion of assets, with required minimum collateral coverage of not less than 1.25x outstanding borrowings. If collateral coverage is less than 1.375x, 100% of proceeds from principal repayments and sales of collateral will be applied to repay outstanding borrowings. For so long as collateral coverage is between 1.375x and 1.50x, 50% of proceeds from principal repayments and sales of collateral will be applied to repay outstanding borrowings and for so long as collateral coverage is greater than 1.50x, the Company may retain all proceeds from principal repayments and sales of collateral. The new credit facility does not contain corporate level financial covenants.

J.P. Morgan and Barclays acted as Joint Physical Bookrunners and, together with BofA Merrill Lynch, served as Joint Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners.

iStar Financial Inc. (NYSE: [ SFI ]) is a fully-integrated finance and investment company focused on the commercial real estate industry. The Company provides custom-tailored investment capital to high-end private and corporate owners of real estate and invests directly across a range of real estate sectors. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), has invested more than $35 billion over the past two decades. Additional information on iStar Financial is available on the Company's website at [ www.istarfinancial.com ].

SOURCE iStar Financial Inc.