Developers Diversified Buying Nonlisted REIT

Developers Diversified, a Cleveland-based retail real estate investment trust, is acquiring Inland Retail Real Estate Trust, a nonlisted REIT, for a total price of about $6.2 billion.DDR is paying $14 per Inland share, and could pay up to $4 of this in DDR shares, the REIT said. DDR is also assuming about $2.3 billion of Inland debt, a significant part of which is to be paid off when the deal closes. Inland's portfolio totals 307 shopping centers, comprising 43.6 million square feet of leasable area, with over 70% of the portfolio located in Southeastern states. DDR has a joint venture agreement with a "major U.S. institutional investor" that will acquire 67 of the Inland properties for about $3 billion, the REIT reported. In addition, the REIT has received financing commitments of over $3 billion that could be used to fund the transaction. Scott A. Wolstein, DDR's chairman and chief executive officer, noted that the transaction gives DDR "control of some of the highest quality, market-dominant community centers in the Southeast."