Lexington Plans Issue of 9.5M Shares

NEW YORK CITY-Lexington Realty Trust on Friday said it has bumped up a common stock offering from the originally announced seven million shares to 9.5 million. The REIT expects to realize approximately $61.5 million of net proceeds after expenses, which it will use for general corporate purposes, to include paying down debt.

Wells Fargo Securities is acting as sole underwriter for the offering. The underwriter has been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.425 million shares to cover over-allotments, if any, according to a release.

Earlier this month, Lexington and Houston-based Means Knauss Partners announced an asset-management joint venture in which Means Knauss will perform property management and oversee leasing and development for approximately 12 million square feet of Lexington’s 45.9-million-square-foot portfolio of single-tenant properties. Phase one of the JV covers properties in 48 cities in 19 states.

In its fourth-quarter 2009 earnings report issued late last month, Lexington said it generated funds from operations of $32.5 million, or 25 cents per share. The REIT said it reduced its overall debt by $72.6 million, arranged 20 leases totaling 1.1 million square feet and raised about $35.7 million through property and joint venture investment sales.

T. Wilson Eglin, Lexington’s president and CEO, notes in a statement that the company’s portfolio has an overall occupancy rate of 92% as of Dec. 31, 2009. “We have already retired an additional $116.1 million in debt in the first quarter of 2010, which would have matured in the next two years, primarily by utilizing the proceeds of our successful offering of 6% convertible notes,” Eglin says.

He adds that during the year, “we expect to remain focused on selling our non-core retail and multi-tenant properties and further deleveraging our balance sheet while being opportunistic with respect to new investments.”