Lenders Purchase Preferred Equity in REIT

A pair of commercial real estate lenders, iStar Financial and Blackstone Real Estate Special Situations Advisors LLC, have agreed to purchase nearly 21.9 million shares of preferred stock from Landmark Apartment Trust of America. Proceeds are expected to be $219 million.

Proceeds will be used to purchase other preferred stock and buy more assets.

Joseph Lubeck, executive chairman of Landmark, said, “With this transaction we were able to lower our cost of capital and continue to fund additional acquisitions and redevelopment activities.”

iStar said it would provide up to $146 million of the $219 million Landmark is seeking. It has already funded $66 million. Additional fundings are expected to occur over the next few months in connection with multifamily property purchases already under contract.