777 Main Street
Cousins Properties Inc. said Monday that it reached a deal to buy a portfolio of 11 office buildings for $1.1 billion in cash, a move that expands the office and retail property owner’s operations in Texas. The deal includes 10 buildings with 4.4 million square feet of office space in Houston, as well as the 980,000 square-foot 777 Main St., a Class-A office tower in Fort Worth.
The properties are being sold by a joint venture run by Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC. Cousins said it expects to fund the transaction through a combination of mortgage financing, the sale of non-core assets and stock sale proceeds.
“Greenway Plaza and 777 Main Street are an excellent fit with our portfolio as they are high-quality urban properties with embedded NOI growth and future development potential,” said Larry Gellerstedt, president and CEO of Cousins. “Not only do we expect this transaction to be transformative and accretive, it immediately expands our Texas platform and provides substantial geographic diversification at a significant discount to replacement cost.” The real estate investment trust also started a public offering of 60 million shares of its common stock, intended to help fund the purchase. The underwriters are expected to be granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 9 million shares. The transaction is expected to close by mid-September.
JP Morgan Securities LLC served as the company’s exclusive financial advisor on the acquisition.