Kite Realty to buy Retail Properties of America at Rs $2.8 billion

Retail Properties of America Inc will merge into a subsidiary, Kite Realty, and will continue as the surviving company, following the closure of the deal in the fourth quarter (Q4) of FY21. On Monday, Kite Realty Group Trust told the media that it would buy Retail Properties of America for nearly $2.8 billion to build one of the top five shopping centres real estate investment trusts in the US. The stocks of Retail Properties' will be converted into 0.6230 newly formed Kite Realty shares in an all-stock deal, with an offer price of $12.98 per share, imposing a premium of $13 as the closing price to Retail Properties' on Friday. Kite Realty said that it is expected that the combined companies would have a market capitalisation of about $4.6 billion and a total enterprise value of $7.5 billion. The merger will make an operating portfolio of 185 open-air shopping centers consisting of around 32 million sq ft owned gross leasable area. These properties are primarily located in warmer and cheaper metro markets in the US with 70% of centers by annualised base rent (ABR) with a grocery component. The combined company is expected to benefit from boosted scale and density in strategic markets, deeper tenant relationships given the broader mix of open-air retail types, an appropriately sized development pipeline and a solid balance sheet. Image Source