Atlas Capital Leads Investor Group to Acquire L.A.’s EVOQ Properties
Affiliates of Atlas Capital, Square Mile Capital and USAA have announced plans to acquire EVOQ Properties. EVOQ's holdings include more than two million square feet of rentable space and more than 13 acres of prime development land in Downtown Los Angeles.
By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor
Marty Caverly, CEO of EVOQ
Los Angeles, Calif.—An investment group established by affiliates of Atlas Capital Investors III L.L.C., Square Mile Capital Management L.L.C., and USAA Real Estate Company will acquire EVOQ Properties Inc. The price? A cool $357.4 million, including the assumption of debt.
The transaction is expected to close in October 2014.
“It was the right time to attract the long-term capital that EVOQ needs for the next phase of its development. The timing has more to do with the capital needs of EVOQ than the dynamics of the real estate market,” Marty Caverly, EVOQ’s CEO, told Commercial Property Executive. “Since new management and investors brought EVOQ out of bankruptcy in 2011, we have righted the ship by selling non-core assets and concentrating our efforts on the properties that represented the greatest potential.”
EVOQ’s real estate holdings include more than two million square feet of rentable space and more than 13 acres of prime development land in Downtown Los Angeles. The cornerstone of the portfolio is the 32-acre Alameda Square creative business hub in the Arts District, one of the largest contiguous blocks of space in Downtown Los Angeles.
According to Caverly, that all made EVOQ a desirable asset to purchase.
“It’s the concentration of assets in Downtown LA, the unique Alameda Square campus and its development properties in key redevelopment areas such as China Town and the Arts District,” Caverly said. “We have always sought to create value for our shareholders by investing in the best risk-adjusted assets we have. This sale provides new capital to continue investing in those assets.”
EVOQ stockholders are expected to receive approximately $12.96 per share, subject to certain adjustments provided for in the merger agreement with respect to the transaction.
Houlihan Lokey and Eastdil Secured were advisors to EVOQ on the transaction and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton L.L.P. and Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis acted as legal counsel.
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