Realty Income Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire VEREIT in an all-stock transaction.
Realty Income said the transaction would create a combined company with an enterprise value of approximately $50 billion.
Under the terms of the agreement, VEREIT shareholders will receive 0.705 shares of Realty Income stock for every share of VEREIT stock they own.
Immediately following the closing, the companies expect to effectuate a taxable spin-off of substantially all of the office properties of both companies into a new, self-managed, publicly traded REIT (SpinCo).
Following the merger and the spin-off, Realty Income will continue as the surviving public entity. Realty Income and former VEREIT shareholders are expected to own approximately 70% and 30%, respectively, of both Realty Income and SpinCo.
”The transactions are expected to be over 10% accretive to Realty Income’s AFFO per share in year one, add meaningful diversification that further enables new growth avenues, strengthen cash flow durability, and provide significant financial synergies, particularly through accretive debt refinancing opportunities,” said the company in a statement.
”Realty Income’s growth strategy will remain focused primarily on high-quality, single-tenant net lease retail and industrial properties in the U.S. and U.K., leased to clients that are leaders in their respective businesses.”
“We believe the merger with VEREIT will generate immediate earnings accretion and value creation for Realty Income’s shareholders while enhancing our ability to execute on our ambitious growth initiatives,” said Sumit Roy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Realty Income.
“Together, our company will enjoy increased size, scale, and diversification, continuing to distance Realty Income as the leader in the net lease industry. VEREIT’s real estate portfolio is highly complementary to ours, which we expect to further enhance the consistency and durability of our cash flows,” he added.
“The objective of our management team from initiation in 2015 was to revitalize VEREIT and increase the value of the enterprise,” said Glenn Rufrano, Chief Executive Officer of VEREIT. “We put an excellent team in place, enhanced the portfolio, created an investment-grade balance sheet and resolved all legacy issues. The board and management have concluded that a merger with Realty Income, the premier net lease company, will enable us to recognize the value created. The combined company provides all of our constituencies the opportunity to benefit from the advantageous cost of capital and growth potential generated by this transaction.”
