LONDON--(Marketwire - Dec 27, 2012) - W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE: [ WPC ]), a real estate investment trust ("REIT") specializing in corporate sale and leaseback and build to suit, single-tenant construction financing, announced today that CPA^®:17 - Global, one of its publicly held non-traded REIT affiliates, has acquired a portfolio of eight retail stores in Croatia.

The total acquisition price was approximately EUR 34.6 million ($46 million). The sites will be long-term, triple-net leased to Konzum, a subsidiary of Agrokor d.d. (S&P: "B / Positive Outlook").

With approximately EUR 4 billion in annual revenues and nearly 35,000 employees, Agrokor d.d. is the largest private company in Croatia and one of the leading food companies in Eastern Europe. Agrokor is Croatia's largest food and drink producer, processor, distributor and retailer.

Located in the towns surrounding Zagreb as well as in busy tourist destinations along the Adriatic Coast, the stores range from modern hypermarkets to smaller traditional supermarkets.

Jeffrey Lefleur, Managing Director of W. P. Carey, said: "This transaction marks our fourth long-term investment with Agrokor over the past three years. We value Agrokor as an attractive, recession-resistant covenant that can provide us attractive risk-adjusted returns in an otherwise challenging and low-yielding investment environment in Europe."

Ivica Todorić, Founder and President of Agrokor, said: "We have now closed four long term financings with W. P. Carey totaling EUR 192 million. W. P. Carey continues to be an important and reliable source of funding for the business and we are delighted to be working with them again." 

W. P. Carey has a successful history in providing long-term finance for European food retailers completing over EUR 1 billion ($1.3 billion) to date. The retail food market fits closely with W. P. Carey's investment strategy of acquiring mission-critical assets from strong creditors in safe, defensive sectors.

W. P. Carey Inc.
W. P. Carey Inc. is a publicly traded REIT (NYSE: [ WPC ]) that provides long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing for companies worldwide and manages an investment portfolio of approximately $13.7 billion. W. P. Carey Inc. is the successor to W. P. Carey & Co. LLC, which had its origins in 1973. The largest owner/manager of net lease assets, our corporate finance, focused credit and real estate underwriting process is a constant that has been successfully leveraged across a wide variety of industries and property types. Our portfolio of long-term leases with creditworthy tenants has an established history of generating stable cash flows that have enabled us to deliver consistent and rising dividend income to investors for nearly four decades. [ www.wpcarey.com ]

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. A number of factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially from those anticipated. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are the general economic climate; the supply of and demand for office and industrial properties; interest rate levels; the availability of financing; and other risks associated with the acquisition and ownership of properties, including risks that the tenants will not pay rent, or that costs may be greater than anticipated. For further information on factors that could impact the Company, reference is made to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.