CenterPoint Properties Trust, Oak Brook, Ill., has announced an agreement in principle to sell a $400-500 million portfolio to a U.S. real estate investment trust that will be a subsidiary of a yet-to-be-formed Australian listed property fund.If the transaction occurs, approximately 60% of the buildings would be sold in June, with the balance to close in the first quarter of 2005. CenterPoint said it expects to invest a majority of the proceeds in new build-to-suit developments, redevelopments, and other "value-added" investments. "The sale would allow the company to efficiently bundle the majority if its budgeted 2004 and 2005 sales to one buyer," said John S. Gates Jr., CenterPoint's co-chairman and chief executive officer. "In addition, it would fund -- and fix the cost of -- the preponderance of our capital needs for the next two years." The REIT can be found online at http://www.centerpoint-prop.com.
