(By Balaseshan) Associated Estates Realty Corp. (NYSE:AEC) said it has priced a public offering of 5.5 million shares of its common stock at $14.40 per share, a 3.5% discount to Thursday's stock closing price.
Net proceeds are expected to be about $75.8 million after the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses (or about $87.2 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full).
Associated Estates Realty has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 825,000 of its common shares.
All of the shares were offered by the company and will be issued under its currently effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The offering is expected to close on June 27, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions.
The company plans to use the net proceeds received from the offering to fund property acquisitions and development and for general corporate purposes. Pending application for the foregoing purposes, the company plans to use the net proceeds to temporarily repay borrowings outstanding under its unsecured revolving credit facility.
Wells Fargo Securities, Citigroup and BofA Merrill Lynch served as Joint Book-Running Managers for the offering.
Jefferies and Raymond James served as Co-Lead Managers for the offering. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Sandler O'Neill + Partners L.P., Janney Montgomery Scott, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, RBS, Compass Point Research & Trading LLC, Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. and Piper Jaffray served as Co-Managers for the offering.
AEC is trading down 3.28% at $14.43 on Friday. The stock has been trading between $14.26 and $18.85 for the past 52 weeks.