iStock illustration
Urstadt Biddle Properties, owner of 31 office, self-storage and retail properties across southwestern Connecticut, plans to sell itself to another, even bigger retail REIT.
The Greenwich-based company says Jacksonville, Florida-based Regency Centers Corp. will pay $1.4 billion for the firm, including the assumption of debt and preferred stock.
Under the terms of the sale agreement, Urstadt Biddle’s Class A common and common stockholders will receive just over one-third of a newly-issued Regency Centers share for each of either type of share they own, equivalent to roughly $20.40 per share based on Regency’s closing share price on May 17.
Both REITs boards have approved the transaction, Urstadt Biddle said in its announcement.
“Regency has a long, successful history of being a sector and industry leader in the ownership and operation of high-quality shopping centers around the country, with one of the best-regarded teams in the REIT industry,” Urstadt Biddle President and CEO Willing L. Biddle said in a statement. “I have no doubt that our portfolio will be in great hands under Regency leadership, and as a future Regency shareholder I look forward to the scale and platform benefits that the combination of our two companies will provide.”
Urstadt Biddle’s Connecticut properties are largely concentrated in the Gold Coast and the Milford area, with a handful in the Danbury area. Its retail properties are generally a mix of regional centers, neighborhood retail strip properties, class B offices and self-storage facilities. The combined Urstadt-Regency portfolio will be comprised of 481 total properties nationwide encompassing more than 56 million square feet of gross leasable area, Urstadt Biddle said.
The transaction is currently expected to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to shareholder approval.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the combination of our two great companies,” Regency President and CEO Lisa Palmer said in a statement. “The portfolio that Urstadt Biddle has carefully assembled over more than 50 years offers a highly aligned demographic and merchandising profile to Regency. Both companies have a successful track record of owning and operating best-in-class grocery-anchored neighborhood and community centers in premier suburban trade areas, and we look forward to the synergies and growth opportunities that this transaction will offer to the combined shareholder base.”
RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as financial advisors and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal advisor to Regency Centers. Eastdil Secured and Deutsche Bank are acting as financial advisors and Hogan Lovells US LLP is serving as legal advisor to Urstadt Biddle.
