VEREIT AND GOLDEN GATE CAPITAL ANNOUNCE ADDITIONAL RED LOBSTER® TRANSACTIONS. VEREIT Sells $210.5 Million Pool of Restaurants to Golden Gate Capital and Companies Expand Strategic Partnership to Sell an Additional $190 Million of Properties
Phoenix and San Francisco – December 18, 2015 – VEREIT, Inc. (NYSE: VER) (“VEREIT”) and Golden Gate Capital (“GGC”) today announced that they have entered into two additional transactions totaling approximately $400 million of Red Lobster® restaurant properties owned by VEREIT. GGC acquired a pool of properties from VEREIT valued at approximately $210.5 million and, by expanding their previously announced strategic partnership, GGC and VEREIT will opportunistically divest approximately $190 million of additional properties through single- or multi-unit dispositions at accretive valuations. Today’s announcement supplements the $604 million of Red Lobster transactions that VEREIT and GGC announced on November 5, 2015.
Glenn Rufrano, Chief Executive Officer of VEREIT, stated, “Following our previously announced transaction with Golden Gate Capital, we welcomed the opportunity to expand our partnership. With today’s announcement, VEREIT will have sold nearly $415 million of Red Lobster properties and plans to sell approximately $600 million of additional assets through our strategic partnership, providing a favorable form of liquidity and significantly reducing our overall exposure to restaurant real estate.
“Additionally, VEREIT will have executed approximately $1.4 billion of strategic dispositions in 2015, which represents the top end of this year’s disposition guidance,” Rufrano noted. “We are well on our way to achieving our guidance of closing between $1.8 and $2.2 billion of dispositions by the end of 2016 as we continue to enhance our overall portfolio diversification.”
Mike Montgomery, Principal at Golden Gate Capital, said, “We are pleased to strengthen our strategic partnership with VEREIT. These additional transactions are a testament to our tremendous confidence in Red Lobster, which – as demonstrated by five consecutive quarters of positive same-store sales since our acquisition – continues to delight customers. With the right strategy backed by a strong brand and an exceptional leadership team, we are confident Red Lobster will maintain its momentum as we invest in enhancing the dining experience. We look forward to continuing to work with Kim Lopdrup and the 58,000 exceptional team members to support the long-term success of Red Lobster.”
The Red Lobster restaurants that are part of this transaction will continue to operate without change or disruption, in the same manner that has delighted guests for decades.
About VEREIT
VEREIT is a leading, full-service real estate operating company with investment management capability. VEREIT owns and actively manages a diversified portfolio of retail, restaurant, office and industrial real estate assets with a total asset book value of $18.7 billion including 4,572 properties totaling approximately 100.9 million square feet. Additionally, VEREIT manages $6.6 billion of gross real estate investments on behalf of the Cole Capital® non-traded REITs. VEREIT is a publicly traded Maryland corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Additional information about VEREIT can be found on its website at www.VEREIT.com.