Regency Centers Corporation
(
REG
), a real estate investment trust (REIT), has recently amended its
existing unsecured revolving credit facility in a concerted effort
to strengthen its liquidity and reduce refinancing risk. The new
credit facility has increased the borrowing capacity by $200
million to an aggregate of $800 million.
Regency has also extended the maturity of the revolving credit
facility by a year. The modified credit facility is currently
scheduled to mature in September 2016 and has an accordion feature
that would further enable Regency to extend the maturity by an
additional year, subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions.
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, part of
Wells Fargo & Company
(
WFC
); and PNC Capital Markets LLC, the investment banking division of
PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
(
PNC
), were the joint Lead Arrangers and joint Book Managers for the
transaction.
The new credit facility bears an interest at LIBOR plus 140 basis
points and is based on the current credit ratings of the company.
Earlier in April this year, Fitch Ratings, the global credit rating
firm, had reaffirmed the credit rating of BBB for Regency. The BBB
rating denotes a fairly stable outlook with a relatively strong
credit quality, low default risk, and adequate capacity to meet
current financial commitments.
While reaffirming Regency's credit rating, Fitch had considered its
high quality asset portfolio, solid past operating performance,
strong liquidity, adequate debt service coverage, manageable debt
maturity schedule and ability to access capital from varied
sources.
Jacksonville, Florida-based Regency owns, operates and develops
grocery-anchored retail shopping centers in the U.S. The average
household income in the markets in which Regency has a significant
presence is over $100,000. With properties in high income,
high-barrier markets, Regency's retail strip center portfolio is
among the best in the sector, which allows it to continually
perform at the top-end of its peer group.
Regency maintains a conservative capital structure and follows a
self-funding capital strategy to fund its growth, which includes
disposal of non-strategic assets and a continued focus on
industry-leading co-investment partnership programs.
We maintain our Neutral rating on Regency, which currently has a
Zacks #3 Rank that translates into a short-term Hold
recommendation.
PNC FINL SVC CP (PNC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
REGENCY CTRS CP (REG): Free Stock Analysis
Report
WELLS FARGO-NEW (WFC): Free Stock Analysis
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