16 Former Town and Country Trust Properties Sold in Three Transactions To Undisclosed Buyers
The investment group that acquired Baltimore-based Town & Country Trust last year and consisting of Morgan Stanley Real Estate, Onex Real Estate and Sawyer Realty Holdings said it sold 16 of the former apartment property owner's multifamily communities in three separate year-end transactions for $677.4 million.
The trio of investors, which acquired Town & Country in February 2006 for $1.4 billion acting as Magazine Acquisition, did not disclose the three buyers, saying only that it sold nine of the former REIT's apartment properties in suburban Baltimore in two separate transactions, including five properties totaling 3,191 units for $377.1 million and four properties totaling 1,588 units for $166.3 million, as well as the Town & Country's Pennsylvania portfolio consisting of seven properties totaling 2,073 units to a private real estate company for $134 million.
The sale represents less than half of the 39 apartment complexes totaling 13,300 units that were owned by the Baltimore trust, one of the first major REITs to be acquired by the wave of private equity investors that has fueled the remarkable merger and acquisition activity throughout the commercial real estate sector.
The trust, formerly headed by Chairman and CEO Harvey Schulweis and President/COO Thomas Brodie, originally accepted a lower offer from the Morgan Stanley investment group. But other investors offered more, prompting the trust to rescind its acceptance and consider other offers before accepting a nearly 20% sweetened buyout offer from the original Morgan Stanley joint venture.
Since 1991, Morgan Stanley has acquired $102 billion of real estate assets worldwide and currently manages $60.5 billion in real estate assets on behalf of its clients.
Toronto-based Onex Real Estate Partners was formed in January 2005 to acquire real estate assets in North America. The fund is led by Michael Dana, a real estate veteran with more than 20 years of experience with major real estate owners and investors including Delta Group, Credit Suisse First Boston, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and Equitable Real Estate.
Founded in 1993, with offices in Needham, Mass. and College Park, Md., Sawyer Realty Holdings is a privately held real estate investment and management firm that owns and manages a portfolio of residential apartment communities throughout the eastern United States.