W.P. Carey Closes on BCBS Portfolio Sale-Leaseback

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has sold its six-building headquarters campus in Eagan to investment firm W.P. Carey & Co.

The New York-based investment management company announced closing on sale-leaseback financing with the entity through CPA:17 – Global, a publicly held non-traded REIT affiliate. The transaction also included individual properties in Aurora and Virginia. The total of eight office facilities, encompassing around 1.1 million square feet, have been leased to Blue Cross of Minnesota under a long-term triple-net arrangement.

Pamela Sedmak, its CFO, stated: “A long-term sale-leaseback was the logical financing option for redeploying the illiquid capital tied up in our real estate holdings to fund strategic initiatives that enable us to improve the health and wellness of our members and all Minnesotans. W. P. Carey’s ability to structure a lease that met our criteria and provided an attractive valuation for our real estate assets is allowing us to advance strategic components of our business plan while partnering with an established long-term investor.”

Although the value of the transaction and the details of the lease have not been released, Finance & Commerce reports the deal was worth $152.9 million, making it the third major sale-leaseback deal in the Twin Cities in recent months. The Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reports that in December, UnitedHealth Group sold a campus it owned in Eden Prairie for $50 million, and later that month Cargill Inc. sold a building it owned in Hopkins for $70 million.

Blue Cross Blue Shield was represented by Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly L.L.P., while CPA:17 – Global was represented by Reed Smith L.L.P.