Thomas Properties Group Inc and the California State Teachers' Retirement System have bought out Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and another syndication partner in eight Austin, Texas, office buildings to gain full ownership of the properties. Thomas Properties, a real estate investment trust, on Monday said that its new venture with CalSTRS, called TPG/CalSTRS Austin LLC, paid $859 million for a portfolio of downtown and suburban office buildings and assumed five mortgage loans totaling $626 million. The deal also cut about $200 million of debt on the portfolio by repaying the amount owed to Lehman Commercial Paper Inc.TPG/CalSTRS Austin LLC, a 50/50 venture in which Thomas is the managing member, bought the 3 million square feet of office properties from TPG-Austin Portfolio Syndication Partners, a venture that included a sovereign wealth fund and TPG/CalSTRS, in addition to Lehman, which had a 50 percent controlling stake.Los Angeles-based Thomas Properties said it entered into an agreement calling for investor Madison International Realty to purchase a one-third interest in the Thomas Properties stake in TPG/CalSTRS Austin LLC.The portfolio includes five downtown Austin properties - Frost Bank Tower, 300 West 6th Street, One American Center, San Jacinto Center and One Congress Plaza - and three suburban buildings - Westech 360, Park Centre and Great Hills Plaza in Northwest Austin.
Thomas Properties Group, Inc. (Thomas Properties Group) is a full-service real estate company that owns, acquires, develops and manages primarily office, as well as mixed-use and residential properties. Shares of TPGI fell by 2.36% or $-0.14/share to $5.79. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $1.88 and as high as $6.15. On average, 155661 shares of TPGI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 54334.
Source
