CHICAGO — Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets experts today announced the firm has completed an equity raise totaling $300 million on behalf of ECHO Realty, L.P. H&R REIT acquired a one-third interest in Echo Realty, which holds an 8-million-square-foot portfolio of commercial properties located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia. ECHO Realty’s $1.2 billion portfolio features 173 properties including 62 grocery stores, five office buildings, six industrial properties and three land parcels.
Managing Directors Bruce Westwood-Booth and Guy Ponticiello led the Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) team on this transaction.
“This portfolio, consisting largely of grocery and convenience stores, proved immensely appealing to H&R,” Westwood-Booth said. “Grocery-based retail assets can be relied upon to produce steady returns in all economic conditions providing investors with a secure income stream.”
Ponticiello added, “Retail portfolios with an emphasis on grocery will continue to account for a significant portion of commercial real estate transactions in the coming years, as investors crave the secure income produced by such deals and owner/occupiers are attracted to the favorable pricing. Institutional investors and REITs with large capital allocation goals will need to be creative and we expect increasing investments into existing operating companies to continue as a result.
“H&R’s investment will kick off an exciting period of growth for ECHO Realty,” said Thomas Kent, Chief Executive Officer of ECHO Realty L.P. “With the economy recovering and consumer confidence growing, ECHO will look to roughly double its portfolio of grocery-anchored shopping centers in the next two to three years.”
Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm’s in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether a sale, financing, repositioning, advisory or recapitalization execution. In 2012 alone, Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets completed $63 billion in investment sale and debt and equity transactions globally. The firm’s dealmakers completed $60 billion in global investment sales and buy-side transactions, equating to nearly $240 million of investment trades completed every working day around the globe. The firm’s Capital Markets team comprises more than 1,300 specialists, operating all over the globe.
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About Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual revenue of $3.9 billion, Jones Lang LaSalle operates in 70 countries from more than 1,000 locations worldwide. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services to a property portfolio of 2.6 billion square feet and completed $63 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2012. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $46.3 billion of real estate assets under management. For further information, visit www.jll.com.
Contact: Heather Filkins
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