W. P. Carey Inc.’s conversion to a REIT and merger with its publicly held, non-traded REIT affiliate, Corporate Property Associates 15 Inc. closed on September 28 and the new entity has commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange as a REIT effective Oct. 1.
As a result of its conversion to REIT status W. P. Carey is immediately eligible for inclusion in the FTSE NAREIT All REITs index.
The company is trading under the symbol WPC. It is currently trading around $50.00 per share.
As previously announced, W. P. Carey's board of directors has established its third quarter 2012 cash distribution at $0.65 per share, which equates to an annualized rate of $2.60 per share and represents a 15 percent increase over the previous quarter. The cash dividend is payable on October 16, 2012 to shareholders of record of W. P. Carey as of October 2, 2012. This marks W. P. Carey's 46th consecutive distribution increase, including its predecessor companies.
"Now that we've completed our merger with CPA®:15 and are officially trading as a REIT, W. P. Carey Inc. has begun an exciting new chapter in its nearly forty year history of providing stable dividends and value to its shareholders,” W.P. Carey President and CEO Trevor P. Bond said in a statement. “The increase in scale and liquidity will enhance our appeal to a broader range of institutional and individual investors and therefore afford us better access to public equity markets. At the same time, W. P. Carey Inc. will continue to be a leading sponsor in the public non-listed REIT market in which we already have a successful track record that spans several decades and multiple market cycles. Having access to both forms of capital will support the patient long term investment approach that has enabled us to deliver superior risk adjusted returns to investors for many years."
W. P. Carey Inc. provides long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing for companies worldwide and manages an investment portfolio of approximately $12.7 billion. W. P. Carey Inc. is the successor to W. P. Carey & Co. LLC, which had its origins in 1973.