Kite Realty Group Trust’s $2.8 billion acquisition of an out-of-state competitor is expected to close Thursday now that shareholders for both companies have approved the deal.
About 99.7 percent of votes cast by Kite shareholders favored the merger, while 98.1 percent of votes by shareholders at Illinois-based Retail Properties of America Inc. approved of the deal, the companies announced Tuesday.
The all-stock deal will put Indianapolis-based Kite among the nation’s top 10 retail-focused real estate investment trusts with a total value of $7.5 billion.
The deal’s substantial upsides for Kite include dozens of well-kept and newer properties and an expansion into two major retail metros—Washington, D.C., and Seattle—as well as other key markets like Phoenix and Southern California.
The combined company will have about 185 shopping centers totaling 32 million square feet, composed of 83 Kite-owned properties and 102 centers from RPAI.
Kite Realty has touted that the deal will make it the fifth-largest shopping center REIT in the United States. But it will also be the ninth-largest general retail investment trust by total value, based on IBJ research.
The largest is Simon Property Group, which is also based in Indianapolis.
Modeled after mutual funds, REITs are public companies that see most of their revenue dispersed to investors rather than placed into their own coffers.
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And yet, Kite continues to ask, and receive, deals from city taxpayers on their developments.