American Realty Capital Properties, Inc., and American Realty Capital Trust III, Inc., completed the closing of their merger in which global law firm Proskauer served as corporate counsel to both companies. The closing was announced February 28, 2013, after receiving approval by both companies’ stockholders on February 26.
With an enterprise value of more than $3 billion, the combined company, ARCP, is one of the largest publicly traded net lease REITs in the United States. The company comprises almost 700 freestanding commercial properties totaling approximately 16.4 million square feet in 44 states and Puerto Rico.
“A company of this size and magnitude will make it a force to be reckoned with in the net-lease market,” said Peter M. Fass, Proskauer Partner and co-head of the firm’s Real Estate Capital Markets Group. “The combination enhances ARCP’s real estate portfolio quality, further diversifies its asset base by industry and geography and creates a net-lease portfolio with a mix of high-credit- quality and investment-grade tenants of long- and mid-term lease durations.”
The deal was the second major transaction acted on by Proskauer’s Real Estate Capital Markets Group in the past six months. In September, the firm advised American Realty Capital Trust on its acquisition by Realty Income Corporation in a cash-and-stock deal valued in excess of $2.95 billion, one of the largest mergers of U.S. REITs in 2012. That deal closed on January 22, 2013.
Together, the two deals vaulted Proskauer to first place among law firms in SNL Financial’s 2012 REIT M&A league tables. The firm claimed the top spot in terms of both number of deals and deal value.
In addition to Peter Fass, who led the Proskauer deal team, the other team members included Partners Daniel I. Ganitsky, Steven L. Lichtenfeld, James P. Gerkis, Frank Zarb (Corporate) and Leslie Loffman (Tax); Special Counsel Timothy W. Donovan (Tax); and Associates Leon Volchyok, Adela K. Cho, Michael E. Ellis and Liz Crimer Walsh (Corporate).
