Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRIT) (NYSE: WRE) has amended
one of its two unsecured credit facilities, to extend the maturity from
July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2016, with a one-year extension option. In
addition, the amendment lowers the interest rate to LIBOR plus a margin
of 107.5 basis points (previously 122.5 basis points) based on WRIT’s
current credit rating and eliminates the requirement for guarantees from
WRIT’s subsidiaries under certain circumstances. The facility retains
its initial committed capacity of $400 million with an accordion feature
that allows WRIT to increase the facility to $600 million, subject to
additional lender commitments.
The bank group and commitments remain unchanged from the prior facility.
The lead arranger and bookrunner for the facility is Wells Fargo
Securities, LLC. Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, is
administrative agent and issuing bank. The Bank of New York Mellon,
Citibank, N.A., and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch serve as
documentation agents. Additional participants include Royal Bank of
Canada, U.S. Bank, N.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Branch Banking &
Trust Co., and Raymond James Bank, FSB.
“Our strong, conservative balance sheet enables us to negotiate more
favorable terms with our lenders when appropriate. In this case, we
improved the legal flexibility, extended the term, and lowered the
interest rate spread and fees of our credit facility to better align
with recent market deal metrics. We appreciate all the effort that our
bank group and legal team devoted to this transaction to make it a
success,” said William T. Camp, Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer of WRIT.
WRIT is a self-administered, self-managed, equity real estate investment
trust investing in income-producing properties in the greater Washington
metro region. WRIT owns a diversified portfolio of 71 properties
totaling approximately 9 million square feet of commercial space and
2,540 residential units, and land held for development. These 71
properties consist of 26 office properties, 18 medical office
properties, 16 retail centers and 11 multifamily properties. WRIT shares
are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:WRE).
Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ
materially. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are
not limited to, the potential for federal government budget reductions,
changes in general and local economic and real estate market conditions,
the timing and pricing of lease transactions, the effect of the current
credit and financial market conditions, the availability and cost of
capital, fluctuations in interest rates, tenants' financial conditions,
levels of competition, the effect of government regulation, the impact
of newly adopted accounting principles, and other risks and
uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the SEC,
including our 2011 Form 10-K and first quarter 2012 Form 10-Q. We assume
no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that
become untrue because of subsequent events.
