WSR Whitestone REIT

Enters into an Agreement with Prudential Capital Group for $100 Million of Senior Unsecured Notes

Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) (the “Company” or “Whitestone”) and its operating partnership, Whitestone REIT Operating Partnership, L.P., today announced it has entered into a Note Purchase and Guarantee Agreement (the “Note Agreement”) with Prudential Capital Group, the private capital arm of PGIM, the $1 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). The note agreement provides for the issuance and sale of $100 million of senior unsecured notes of the Operating Partnership, of which:

• $50 million are designated as 5.09% Series A Senior Notes due March 22, 2029
• $50 million are designated as 5.17% Series B Senior Notes due March 22, 2029, (together with the Series A Senior Notes, the “Notes”)

Obligations under the Notes are unconditionally guaranteed by the Company and certain subsidiaries.

Whitestone Chairman and CEO Jim Mastandrea stated, "We are very pleased to announce our inaugural issuance of senior unsecured notes.  This transaction represents another successful step in Whitestone's long-term balance sheet strategy.  The private placement allows us to further ladder our debt maturities, lock in fixed interest rates on an additional $100 million of our debt, provides additional balance sheet flexibility and represents further institutional validation of our e-commerce resistant model.” Mr. Mastandrea added, “We are excited to partner up with Prudential Capital Group, an elite global financial services institution, and pleased that they recognized our commitment to long term value creation.”

The principal of the Series A Notes will begin to amortize on March 22, 2023 with annual principal payments of approximately $7.1 million. The principal of the Series B Notes will begin to amortize on March 22, 2025 with annual principal payments of $10.0 million. The Notes will pay interest quarterly on the 22nd day of March, June, September and December in each year until maturity.

Net proceeds from the Private Placement were used to pay down existing indebtedness. For additional details, please refer the Form 8-K that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 28, 2019.

About Whitestone REIT

Whitestone is a community-centered retail REIT that acquires, owns, manages, develops and redevelops high quality "e-commerce resistant" neighborhood, community and lifestyle retail centers principally located in the largest, fastest-growing and most affluent markets in the Sunbelt. Whitestone’s optimal mix of national, regional and local tenants provides daily necessities, needed services and entertainment to the communities in which they are located. Whitestone's properties are primarily located in business-friendly Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, which are among the fastest growing U.S. population centers with highly educated workforces, high household incomes and strong job growth. Whitestone’s forward-thinking business model has produced industry leading compound annual growth rates in excess of 15% in revenues, property net operating income, funds from operations and net income since its IPO in 2010. As of March 31, 2019, Whitestone's total shareholder return ranks #3 of 17, #1 of 17, and #7 of 16, of the U.S. public shopping center REITs for the one-year, three-year, and five-year periods, respectively.(1) For additional information, visit www.whitestonereit.com. 

About Prudential Capital Group

Prudential Capital Group has been a leading provider of private placements, mezzanine debt and equity to companies for more than 75 years. Managing a portfolio of more than $83 billion as of December 31, 2018, Prudential Capital offers senior debt, mezzanine financing, leveraged leases, project financing, credit tenant leases as well as asset financing to companies, worldwide. The global regional office network has locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City*, Milan, Minneapolis, Newark, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Sydney**. For more information, please visit prudentialcapitalgroup.com.

*Operates through PGIM Real Estate Mexico S.C.

**Operates through PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The Company intends for all such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act, as applicable. Such information is subject to certain risks and uncertainties, as well as known and unknown risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Therefore, such statements are not intended to be a guarantee of our performance in future periods. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the Company's use of forward-looking terminology, such as “may,” “will,” “plan,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “goals” or similar words or phrases that are predictions of future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters.

The following are some of the factors that could cause the Company's actual results and its expectations to differ materially from those described in the Company's forward-looking statements: the Company's ability to meet its long-term goals, its assumptions regarding its earnings guidance, including its ability to execute effectively its acquisition and disposition strategy, to continue to execute its development pipeline on schedule and at the expected costs, and its ability to grow its NOI as expected, which could be impacted by a number of factors, including, among other things, its ability to continue to renew leases or re-let space on attractive terms and to otherwise address its leasing rollover; its ability to successfully identify, finance and consummate suitable acquisitions, and the impact of such acquisitions, including financing developments, capitalization rates and internal rates of return; the Company’s ability to reduce or otherwise effectively manage its general and administrative expenses; the Company’s ability to fund from cash flows or otherwise distributions to its shareholders at current rates or at all; current adverse market and economic conditions; lease terminations or lease defaults; the impact of competition on the Company's efforts to renew existing leases; changes in the economies and other conditions of the specific markets in which the Company operates; economic, legislative and regulatory changes; the success of the Company's real estate strategies and investment objectives; the Company's ability to continue to qualify as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; and other factors detailed in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company cannot guarantee the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and the Company does not intend to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact Whitestone REIT:Kevin ReedDirector of Investor Relations(713) 435-2219ir@whitestonereit.com