NEW YORK, NY – October 7, 2002 – Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC) today announced that it has acquired two office buildings and a warehouse facility that were previously leased under a tax retention operating lease to St. Petersburg, FL-based Danka Business Systems PLC (Danka) (Nasdaq:DANKY), the second largest photocopy supplier in the world, for approximately $31.4 million.
Under the terms of the transaction, the facilities located in St. Petersburg, FL will be leased by Danka under a 15-year triple net lease. The properties, which total 337,000 square feet, will include Danka's worldwide headquarters, its primary distribution center, its sole customer service call center and its data center. The facilities were purchased on behalf of Corporate Property Associates 15 Incorporated (CPA®:15), W. P. Carey's newest publicly held non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) and a member of the $4 billion W. P. Carey Group.
"Danka came to us with two requests, to raise capital to pay off a tax retention operating lease and to provide financing for the completion of their worldwide headquarters. We successfully accommodated both in a single transaction," said Alistair Calvert, a Vice President at W. P. Carey. "As a world leader in the photocopier industry we were pleased to have partnered with Danka and look forward to a long-term relationship."
Danka Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lang Lowrey, said, "We were pleased to have completed this transaction with W. P. Carey as these funds will provide us financing to complete construction on our headquarters and enable us to terminate the tax retention operating lease obligations on these properties and further eliminate our exposure to the risk of real estate ownership."
Danka Business Systems, PLC, is one of the world's leading providers of office imaging solutions and related services and supplies. Danka provides office imaging equipment and related services, parts and supplies to customers in 27 countries around the world.
CPA®:15 invests in single-tenant commercial properties which are typically purchased under a long-term, triple-net lease in which the tenant is responsible for maintaining the premises, insuring the buildings and paying real estate taxes. CPA®:15 launched in November 2001, and currently has an ownership interest in 34 properties net leased to 12 tenants in 18 states.
Founded in 1973, W. P. Carey & Co. specializes in corporate real estate financing through the corporate net lease, or sale-leaseback structure. The firm and its affiliates continue to be the leading lessors of net leased corporate real estate in the United States. As the largest publicly traded limited liability company in the world, the company owns and/or manages more than 450 commercial and industrial properties throughout the United States and Europe comprised of more than 60 million square feet of space.
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.
