NEW YORK, NY – April 24, 2002 – W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE:WPC), a leading real estate investment banking firm, today announced the appointment of W. Sean Sovak as Managing Director and Chief Acquisitions Officer of the firm. Mr. Sovak assumes the role previously held by Gordon F. DuGan who, as President of W. P. Carey, will focus his efforts on corporate strategies and operations of the firm.
In this new position, Mr. Sovak will oversee the firm's Acquisitions Group, which in the past 12 months has been responsible for more than $500 million in sale-leaseback transactions with more than 20 companies throughout the United States and Europe. Among the companies that received financing from W. P. Carey through the sale-leaseback of their corporate real estate have been PETsMART, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM); Carrefour (Paris: CARR.PA); Tower Automotive, Inc. (NYSE: TWR) and Celestica, Inc. (NYSE: CLS).
"Sean has been an invaluable part of W. P. Carey since he joined us back in 1994," said W. P. Carey President Gordon F. DuGan. "He has served in a variety of roles at the firm, but we are particularly excited to have him return to the Acquisitions Group to bring us to a new level of success. Corporate America has a tremendous need for long-term financing alternatives, and we are ready to assist."
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Sovak said, "I am honored to be working with such a talented group of professionals. With the team we have in place, W. P. Carey is perfectly poised to seize the tremendous opportunity created by the uncertainty in capital markets. We will continue to help today's CEOs and CFOs meet their funding needs by providing long-term financing via the time-tested, sale-leaseback solution."
Mr. Sovak joined W. P. Carey & Co. in 1994 as an Assistant to Chairman Wm. Polk Carey, where he worked on a variety of strategic and financial matters. During his tenure at the firm, he served as an Executive Director in the firm's Acquisition Group and most recently as the firm's Executive Director of Strategy and Operations. Mr. Sovak will continue to serve as the President of Corporate Property Associates 12 Incorporated (CPA®:12), a publicly held non-traded real estate investment trust managed by W. P. Carey & Co. CPA®:12 currently has real estate assets worth in excess of $450 million. Mr. Sovak graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School where he concentrated in Finance and currently serves on the Board of the Wharton Club of New York.
Founded in 1973, W. P. Carey & Co. is the largest publicly traded limited liability company in the world and specializes in corporate real estate financing through the corporate net lease or sale-leaseback structure. The firm and its affiliated publicly held non-traded real estate investment trusts – CIP®, CPA®:12, CPA®:14 and CPA®:15 – currently own and/or manage more than 450 commercial and industrial properties, consisting of more than 55 million square feet, throughout the United States and Europe.
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.
