Amid REIT Upheavals, Kimco Seeks Up to $410M in New Stock Offering

Even with REITs’ stock prices going every way but sideways over the past week, Kimco Realty Corp. has set the pricing of its public offering of 10 million shares at $37.10 per share. Kimco estimates its net proceeds at about $356.5 million, or up to $410 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase up to 1.5 million shares to cover any over-allotments. Kimco owns and operates the nation’s largest portfolio of neighborhood and community retail centers. As of the end of the second quarter, it owned interests in more than 1,900 properties comprising 180 million square feet of leasable space in 45 states, as well as Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Peru. The stock offering’s joint book-running managers are UBS Investment Bank, Citi and Wachovia Securities, and the joint lead managers are Deutsche Bank Securities, Morgan Stanley, Raymond James and RBC Capital Markets. Banc of America Securities L.L.C., JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch & Co., ABN AMRO Inc., BNY Mellon Capital Markets L.L.C. and Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. are acting as co-managers. In a prepared statement, Kimco said it intends to use the offering’s net proceeds for general corporate purposes, potentially including property acquisitions and development and partially repaying outstanding debt under its U.S. revolving credit facility. The Dow Jones Equity REIT Index of 116 REITs has ranged from 219.61 to 315.23 over the past 52 weeks, which documents the ups and downs that the REIT sector has taken, particularly during the federal government’s recent actions to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.