NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- iStar (NYSE: STAR) announced that it has successfully completed a transformative set of capital markets transactions that have enhanced its capital structure and improved its earnings profile.

The comprehensive set of transactions address all parts of the Company's capital structure, resulting in iStar having:

• Repaid all 2017 and 2018 debt maturities, leaving no corporate debt maturities for the next 21 months
• Extended its weighted average debt maturity by 1.5 years to 4.0 years
• Reduced annual expenses underlying earnings by approximately $38 million, or $0.55 per share
• Lowered cost of capital by approximately 35 basis points
• Facilitated new banking relationships
• Maintained pro forma liquidity of approximately $750 million to pursue new investment opportunities

The strategy also served as the catalyst for each of the three leading rating agencies to upgrade our credit ratings. The improved ratings should have a positive impact on the marginal cost of future debt issuances, which should in turn allow iStar to broaden the set of investment opportunities that are attractive to pursue.

The table below summarizes the components comprising the capital markets transactions:

Secured Term Loan

The Company repriced, extended and downsized its secured term loan from a $473 million facility priced at LIBOR plus 3.75% maturing in July 2020 to a $400 million facility priced at LIBOR plus 3.00% maturing in October 2021. This is the second time the facility was repriced in the past year, resulting in a cumulative reduction of 1.5% in the spread over LIBOR. The facility is collateralized 1.25x by substantially the same assets that collateralized the prior facility.

Secured Revolving Credit Facility

The Company is in the process of amending and restating its secured revolving credit facility to increase the capacity from $250 million to $300 million, extend the maturity date from March 2018 to September 2020 and provide additional flexibility with respect to eligible collateral. However, closing is subject to customary conditions and there can be no assurance that it will be completed.

The secured revolving credit facility will remain fully undrawn pro forma these transactions. The Company is working with several additional banks to potentially participate in and further upsize the facility.

Unsecured Notes and Convertible Notes

The Company issued at par $400 million aggregate principal amount of its 4.625% senior unsecured notes due September 2020 and $400 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.25% senior unsecured notes due September 2022. This compares favorably to the Company's prior issuance of 5-year unsecured notes in March 2017 which were priced with an annual coupon of 6.0%.

iStar also issued at par $250 million aggregate principal amount of its 3.125% senior convertible notes due September 2022 in a separate private offering.  The senior convertible notes will be convertible at an initial conversion rate of 64.3563 shares per $1,000 principal amount of senior convertible notes, which is equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $15.54 per share of common stock and represents a premium of 35% to the last reported sale price of the Company's common stock on the NYSE on September 14, 2017 of $11.51 per share. The conversion rate and conversion price are subject to adjustment in certain events. The initial purchasers of the senior convertible notes will have the option to purchase up to an additional $37.5 million aggregate principal amount of the senior convertible notes.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offerings and cash on hand to repay in full its 4.00% Senior Notes due November 2017 ($550 million aggregate principal amount), its 7.125% Senior Notes due February 2018 ($300 million aggregate principal amount) and its 4.875% Senior Notes due July 2018 ($300 million aggregate principal amount).

Preferred Stock

The Company also intends to redeem at par its 7.875% Series E Preferred Stock ($140 million aggregate liquidation preference) and its 7.8% Series F Preferred Stock ($100 million aggregate liquidation preference). 

Common Stock

In connection with the senior convertible notes offering, the Company used approximately $46 million of cash on hand to repurchase approximately 4 million shares of its common stock at $11.51 per share in privately negotiated transactions with purchasers of the senior convertible notes.

Pro Forma Capital Structure

The table below summarizes the changes to the Company's capital structure as a result of the transactions.

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iStar (NYSE: STAR) finances, invests in and develops real estate and real estate related projects as part of its fully-integrated investment platform. Building on over two decades of experience and more than $35 billion of transactions, iStar brings uncommon capabilities and new ways of thinking to commercial real estate and adapts its investment strategy to changing market conditions. The Company is structured as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), with a diversified portfolio focused on larger assets located in major metropolitan markets. Additional information on iStar is available on its website at www.istar.com.

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SOURCE iStar