PHOENIX and SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- VEREIT, Inc. (NYSE: VER) ("VEREIT") and Golden Gate Capital ("GGC") today announced that they have entered into two additional transactions totaling approximately $400 million of Red Lobster® restaurant properties owned by VEREIT. GGC acquired a pool of properties from VEREIT valued at approximately $210.5 million and, by expanding their previously announced strategic partnership, GGC and VEREIT will opportunistically divest approximately $190 million of additional properties through single- or multi-unit dispositions at accretive valuations. Today's announcement supplements the $604 million of Red Lobster transactions that VEREIT and GGC announced on November 5, 2015.
Glenn Rufrano, Chief Executive Officer of VEREIT, stated, "Following our previously announced transaction with Golden Gate Capital, we welcomed the opportunity to expand our partnership. With today's announcement, VEREIT will have sold nearly $415 million of Red Lobster properties and plans to sell approximately $600 million of additional assets through our strategic partnership, providing a favorable form of liquidity and significantly reducing our overall exposure to restaurant real estate.
"Additionally, VEREIT will have executed approximately $1.4 billion of strategic dispositions in 2015, which represents the top end of this year's disposition guidance," Rufrano noted. "We are well on our way to achieving our guidance of closing between $1.8 and $2.2 billion of dispositions by the end of 2016 as we continue to enhance our overall portfolio diversification."
Mike Montgomery, Principal at Golden Gate Capital, said, "We are pleased to strengthen our strategic partnership with VEREIT. These additional transactions are a testament to our tremendous confidence in Red Lobster, which – as demonstrated by five consecutive quarters of positive same-store sales since our acquisition – continues to delight customers. With the right strategy backed by a strong brand and an exceptional leadership team, we are confident Red Lobster will maintain its momentum as we invest in enhancing the dining experience. We look forward to continuing to work with Kim Lopdrup and the 58,000 exceptional team members to support the long-term success of Red Lobster."
The Red Lobster restaurants that are part of this transaction will continue to operate without change or disruption, in the same manner that has delighted guests for decades.
About VEREIT
VEREIT is a leading, full-service real estate operating company with investment management capability. VEREIT owns and actively manages a diversified portfolio of retail, restaurant, office and industrial real estate assets with a total asset book value of $18.7 billion including 4,572 properties totaling approximately 100.9 million square feet. Additionally, VEREIT manages $6.6 billion of gross real estate investments on behalf of the Cole Capital® non-traded REITs. VEREIT is a publicly traded Maryland corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Additional information about VEREIT can be found on its website at www.VEREIT.com.
About Golden Gate Capital
Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over $15 billion of capital under management. The principals of Golden Gate have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments. Golden Gate is one of the most active investors in multi-unit consumer companies with leading brands. Representative investments include Red Lobster, California Pizza Kitchen, ascena, Payless ShoeSource, Eddie Bauer, Express, Zales, J.Jill and Pacific Sunwear. For additional information, visit www.goldengatecap.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Information set forth herein (including information included or incorporated by reference herein) contains "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended), which reflect VEREIT's expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Generally, the words "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals," "projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," variations of such words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, and any statements regarding VEREIT's future financial condition, results of operations and business are also forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond VEREIT's control. If a change occurs, VEREIT's business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations may vary materially from those expressed in its forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: VEREIT's plans, market and other expectations, objectives, intentions and other statements that are not historical facts; the developments disclosed herein; VEREIT's ability to execute on and realize success from its business plan; the ability for VEREIT and GGC to effectively divest certain properties at accretive valuations; VEREIT's ability to grow its partnership with GGC; VEREIT's ability to reduce its overall exposure to restaurants and enhance overall portfolio diversification; VEREIT's ability to close between $1.8 and $2.2 billion of dispositions by the end of 2016 and continuation or deterioration of current market conditions. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in VEREIT's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. VEREIT disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, future events or other changes, except as required by law.
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SOURCE VEREIT, Inc.; Golden Gate Capital
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