Liberty Property Trust sale completed
SAN FRANCISCO » The sale of commercial real estate development firm Liberty Property Trust to Prologis Inc., has been completed. The transaction, originally announced in October 2019, closed late Monday.
Prologis acquired the Chester County-based Liberty Property Trust in an all stock deal valued at $13 million, including the assumption of debt. Under the terms of the agreement, each share of Liberty common stock has been converted into the right to receive 0.675 shares of Prologis common stock.
The San Francisco-based Prologis has properties and development projects totaling more than 800 million square feet in 19 countries.
The Liberty transaction expands Prologis’ presence in a number of key logistics markets, including the Lehigh Valley, Central Pennsylvania, Chicago, Houston, New Jersey and southern California, the company said.
“The acquired Liberty portfolio is very complementary to our own in many markets,” Prologis chairman and CEO Hamid R. Moghadam, said in a statement. “By adding Liberty’s portfolio to ours, we expand our footprint in important locations and benefit from immediate operational cost savings.”
The acquisition of Liberty Property Trust includes 4.9 million square feet of logistics development in progress; a 108 million-square-foot logistics operating portfolio; 1,748 acres of land for future logistics development with a build-out potential of 20.5 million square feet and a 3.8 million-square-foot office operating and development portfolio.
In an October conference call following the announcement of the acquisition, Eugene Reilly, Prologis chief investment officer, said the company had been trying to grow its presence in the Lehigh Valley “for years,” but that Liberty “led this market from its inception.” He added on that call that the Lehigh Valley portfolio totals 26 million square feet with additional land to build 4 million square feet in the future.
Prologis expects to capture immediate cost and long-term revenue synergies, including approximately $120 million from corporate and general administrative cost savings, operating leverage, lower interest expense and lease adjustments, according to the company.
“We are thrilled to welcome many of Liberty’s talented team members to Prologis — their expertise and deep market knowledge will further strengthen our ability to provide industry-leading service to our customers,” Reilly said in a statement following the completion of the acquisition. “We are also excited to welcome approximately 325 new customers and expand our relationship with 180 existing Prologis customers.”
No specific information about how many Liberty Property Trust employees have been retained by Prologis has been made available.
A Liberty Property Trust spokeswoman told MediaNews Group in October that the Chester County company had about 250 employees working at 20 locations, including about 100 at the company’s Swedesford Road headquarters in Tredyffrin Township.
In December it was announced that the company would be closing its Swedesford Road headquarters, effective Feb. 3 due to the merger with Prologis Inc. — resulting in the loss of 94 jobs. That information was announced via a PA WARN notice filed by Liberty Property Trust with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor.
Liberty Property Trust had moved into the 25,000-square-foot Swedesford Road location in June 2018, relocating from its previous headquarters in Great Valley Corporate Center in East Whiteland, Chester County.
Liberty Property Trust, started by Willard G. Rouse III, is known for its development of Great Valley Corporate Center in East Whiteland — in the early days of the company. Other notable regional projects have included the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia, Comcast Center in Philadelphia and the mixed-use Camden Waterfront in New Jersey. The Great Valley Corporate Center and other suburban Philadelphia office properties, were sold by Liberty Property Trust over the past several years.
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