NEW YORK, NY – August 22, 2001 – W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE:WPC), a leading real estate investment banking firm and lessor of net leased corporate properties, announced today that it has acquired and leased-back two facilities from Jen-Coat, Inc. (Jen-Coat). The purchase price of the properties was approximately $11.5 million.
Under the terms of the sale-leaseback transaction, the facilities will be leased to Jen-Coat under a 20-year bond-type net lease, followed by two ten-year renewal options. The facilities, consisting of a total of 377,500 square feet of manufacturing, warehouse and office space, are located in Westfield, Massachusetts. Jen-Coat's headquarters and main manufacturing operations are housed in a 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility situated on a 9.83-acre site. The Company's distribution and warehouse operations are centralized in a recently constructed (1998) 127,000 square foot facility situated on a 20-acre site. Westfield is located 99 miles west of Boston, in the southwest central portion of Massachusetts.
The facilities were purchased on behalf of Corporate Property Associates 12 Incorporated (CPA®:12), a member of the W. P. Carey Group.
Anne R. Coolidge, Executive Director of W. P. Carey said, "This sale-leaseback transaction effectively 'unlocks' 100 percent of the value of Jen-Coat's underlying real estate which will provide the company with additional capital to finance current operations and future growth. This deal is another example of W. P. Carey's proven expertise in working in conjunction with private equity firms such as Cravey, Green & Wahlen, to provide creative real estate financing solutions that meet the specific needs of their portfolio companies."
Founded in 1972, Jen-Coat, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of a wide variety of specialized paper and non-woven flexible packaging products. The Company provides "value-added" consumer, industrial and medical packaging through extrusion coating, laminating and silicone coating processes. Jen-Coat's diverse customer base includes a number of blue chip companies including Sonoco, 3M Company, Kimberly Clark and Merisant (Equal). The Company is owned by management and Cravey, Green & Wahlen (CGW), an Atlanta, Georgia based private equity firm specializing in management buyouts of middle-market companies, with particular expertise in the packaging industry.
CPA®:12 is a public, non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in single-tenant commercial properties. These properties are subject to long-term, triple-net leases in which the tenants bear responsibility for maintaining the premises, insuring the buildings and paying real estate taxes. As of June 30, 2001, the trust's diversified portfolio contained 92 properties net-leased to 38 tenants throughout the United States with total assets of more than $550 million.
W. P. Carey & Co. LLC and its affiliates specialize in corporate real estate financing through the corporate net lease, or sale-leaseback structure. The firm has found that when a company leases rather than owns its real estate, the company is then able to use this capital to pay down debt, or finance other corporate initiatives. The largest publicly traded limited-liability company in the world, W. P. Carey was founded in 1973, and owns and manages more than 46 million square feet of property in the United States and Europe. The $3 billion firm is headquartered in Manhattan and has offices in London and Paris. Additional information is available on the firm's website: www.wpcarey.com
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. A number of factors could cause the company's actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially from those anticipated. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are the general economic climate; the supply of and demand for office and industrial properties; interest rate levels; the availability of financing; and other risks associated with the acquisition and ownership of properties, including risks that the tenants will not pay rent, or that costs may be greater than anticipated. For further information on factors that could impact the company, reference is made to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
