Publications

Cousins Properties, TIER REIT merge
Real Estate - MARCH 25, 2019

Cousins Properties, TIER REIT merge

by Andrea Zander

Cousins Properties and TIER REIT have merged, creating an office REIT with a combined equity market capitalization of about $5.9 billion and a total market capitalization of approximately $7.8 billion.

The transaction will create a class A office REIT with a combined portfolio of more than 21 million square feet located across the Sun Belt.

“The combination of these two highly complementary companies creates the pre-eminent Sun Belt office REIT with a best-in-class balance sheet. The company will own an unmatched portfolio of trophy office properties in the premier submarkets of Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, Phoenix and Tampa,” said Colin Connolly, president and CEO of Cousins. “In addition, the company will be uniquely positioned to drive superior value for shareholders through its highly pre-leased existing development pipeline and well-located strategic land holdings for future development.”

Larry Gellersted, Cousins’ executive chairman, will serve as executive chairman of the combined company, and Connolly and his senior management team will continue to lead the combined company.

“This transaction will be transformative for both companies,” said Scott Fordham, CEO of TIER. “The alignment of high-quality properties and common geographic footprint in our respective portfolios will offer shareholders the opportunity to benefit from a truly differentiated Sun Belt–focused office platform. In addition, with an enhanced balance sheet, our shareholders will be able to benefit from further value creation in Austin, Dallas and Atlanta with TIER’s pipeline of more than 5 million square feet of development and redevelopment opportunities.”

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019. Cousins shareholders will own 72 percent of the combined company and Tier stockholders will own 28 percent.

Forgot your username or password?