RAIT Financial Trust Announces Conclusion of Strategic and Financial Alternative Review Process, Next Steps and Other Items
February 20 2018 - 05:00PM
Business Wire
RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS) (“RAIT”) today announced that a
special committee of RAIT’s independent trustees (the “Special
Committee”) delegated the authority by RAIT’s Board of Trustees
(the “Board”) to manage RAIT’s previously announced review of
strategic and financial alternatives for RAIT has concluded this
review. This review, conducted with the support of financial and
legal advisors, was deliberate and comprehensive in its evaluation
of a wide range of potential alternatives which included, but were
not limited to, (i) refinements of RAIT’s operations or strategy,
(ii) financial transactions, such as a recapitalization or other
change to RAIT’s capital structure and (iii) strategic
transactions, such as a sale of all or part of RAIT. At this time,
the Board has determined that this review did not identify a
suitable strategic or financial transaction with another
counterparty that was preferable to the steps being reported today.
As a result, the Board, after considering the recommendations and
advice of the Special Committee, RAIT’s management and legal and
financial advisors, determined that RAIT should take steps to
increase RAIT’s liquidity and better position RAIT to meet its
financial obligations as they come due and to continue to operate
as a going concern. These steps include, but are not limited
to:
- The cessation of RAIT’s lending
business along with the implementation of other steps to reduce
costs within its other operating businesses;
- The continuation of the process of
selling RAIT’s property portfolio while servicing and managing
RAIT’s existing commercial real estate loan portfolio; and
- The engagement of a financial advisor
to assist and advise RAIT during this process.
Other Items
Q4 and Fiscal 2017 Financial Results
- RAIT expects to timely file its annual
report for the year ended December 31, 2017 on Form 10-K with the
Securities and Exchange Commission by March 16, 2018.
About RAIT Financial Trust
RAIT Financial Trust is an internally-managed real estate
investment trust. For more information, please visit
www.rait.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain certain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally
be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as
“strategy,” “expect,” “should,” “believe,” or other similar words
or terms. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, statements regarding RAIT’s ability to increase RAIT’s
liquidity and better position RAIT to meet its obligations as they
come due and to continue to operate as a going concern, RAIT’s
expectations as to the financial impact of the actions described
and expectations as to the impact of such actions on our
stakeholders. Such statements are subject to known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual
results to differ materially from the expectations, intentions,
beliefs, strategies or predictions of the future expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks,
uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to,
the effect of the announcement of the actions described on RAIT’s
business, including its financial and operating results and its
employees, lenders and other capital sources and customers and
RAIT’s ability to meet New York Stock Exchange continued listing
standards; whether the actions described will increase RAIT’s
liquidity and better position RAIT to meet its financial
obligations as they come due and to continue to operate as a going
concern; whether RAIT will be able to obtain sufficient liquidity
through distributions from its consolidated securitizations and
servicing and managing RAIT’s existing commercial real estate loan
portfolio to better position RAIT to meet its financial obligations
as they come due; whether RAIT will be able to continue to divest
RAIT’s legacy real estate owned portfolio and existing property
management operations and the majority of RAIT’s non-lending assets
and repay any related debt and generate additional liquidity; final
accounting determinations on gains or losses realized in the event
properties are sold or divested for prices that differ from their
carrying value or if property valuations are adjusted in the
process of revaluating properties when they are characterized as
held for sale; RAIT’s ability to attract and retain members of its
management team and key employees; and other factors described in
RAIT’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
and in other filings with the SEC. RAIT undertakes no obligation to
update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.
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RAIT Financial TrustAndres Viroslav,
215-207-2100aviroslav@rait.com