Equity One Inc.
(
EQY
), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, manages, and
develops neighborhood and community shopping centers in the U.S.,
has recently completed its secondary offering of 4.1 million common
shares, which included an additional 1 million shares sold by one
of its stockholders. Barclays Capital Inc., the investment banking
division of
Barclays PLC
(
BCS
), acted as the sole book-running manager for the equity offer.
Equity One raised net proceeds of approximately $65.2 million from
the program, while the selling stockholder raised another $21.0
million. However, Equity One did not receive any of the proceeds
from its selling stockholder with respect to the shares sold. The
company intends to utilize the proceeds to repay debt under its
unsecured revolving credit facility and for general corporate
purposes.
Equity One had an unsecured revolving credit facility worth $575.0
million from a syndicate of banks. As of June 30, 2012, the company
had drawn approximately $101.0 million against the facility with an
annual interest of 1.80%. In addition, the company had an
additional $15.0 million unsecured credit facility, under which it
had no outstanding debt.
As of June 30, 2012, Equity One owned 165 properties spanning 16.8
million square feet of space. These included 142 shopping centers,
11 development/redevelopment properties, seven land parcels, and
five non-retail properties.
The majority of the shopping centers owned by Equity One are
anchored by leading supermarkets, pharmacies and large retail
stores. The company has a diverse tenant mix - a hedge against
tenant concentration risk, thereby ensuring a steady source of
income.
In addition, the bulk of the company's portfolio is located in some
of the most densely populated and highest growth areas of the
country with high barriers to entry. These include the metropolitan
areas around Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville,
Orlando, Atlanta, Georgia, Boston and New York. Consequently, the
shopping centers generate relatively strong sales with solid trade
area demographics.
We have a Neutral rating on Equity One, which presently has a Zacks
#3 Rank that translates into a short-term Hold rating.
BARCLAY PLC-ADR (BCS): Free Stock Analysis
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EQUITY ONE INC (EQY): Free Stock Analysis
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