Kennedy Wilson and Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate Plc Complete Merger, Creating $8 Billion Global Real Estate Company
October 20 2017 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Global real estate investment company Kennedy-Wilson Holdings,
Inc. (NYSE:KW) (“KW”) today announced the completion of its merger
with Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate Plc (LSE:KWE) (“KWE”). The
transaction creates a leading global real estate investment and
asset management platform with an $8 billion enterprise value.
“This transformative combination with KWE represents an exciting
new chapter for our company,” said William J. McMorrow, Chairman
and CEO of KW. “We are moving towards a simplified corporate
structure that provides more recurring income from stable property
cash flows and greater upside potential from value-enhancing
initiatives worldwide. We are well positioned for future growth and
to continue our track record of generating attractive risk-adjusted
returns on our invested capital.”
“We are thrilled to combine the financial strength of KW and KWE
to continue building on our global platform,” said Mary Ricks,
President and CEO of Kennedy Wilson Europe. “We remain focused on
efficiently allocating capital to support growth opportunities
across our target markets and we look forward to enhancing the
value of our combined portfolio.”
Acquired by William J. McMorrow in 1988, KW has grown from a
single office in Santa Monica, CA into a global real estate company
with 27 offices in six countries. Since going public in 2009, KW
and its partners have completed approximately $20 billion in
acquisitions. The new combination will increase KW’s scale,
liquidity and geographic reach. KWE’s portfolio, which is expected
to produce over $200 million of annual NOI, includes 207 assets
across 11.4 million square feet with a weighted average unexpired
lease term of 7.4 years.
KW’s leadership team has acted as the external asset manager for
KWE since its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2014. The senior
management team and all operations in the U.S. and Europe remain in
place.
Following the merger, KW will benefit from an improved balance
sheet and greater recurring income. As a result, the company
intends to increase its next quarterly dividend by 12% to $0.19 per
share, or $0.76 per share annualized.
About Kennedy Wilson
Kennedy Wilson (NYSE:KW) is a global real estate investment
company. We own, operate, and invest in real estate both on our own
and through our investment management platform. We focus on
multifamily and commercial properties located in the Western U.S.,
UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Japan. To complement our investment
business, the Company also provides real estate services primarily
to financial services clients. For further information on Kennedy
Wilson, please visit: www.kennedywilson.com.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements
concerning future events and financial performance. These
forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates reflecting the
judgment of senior management based on current estimates,
expectations, forecasts and projections and include comments that
express current opinions about trends and factors that may impact
future operating results. Disclosures that use words such as
“believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “could,” “plan,”
“expect,” “project” or the negative of these, as well as similar
expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking
statements.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance, rely on a number of assumptions concerning future
events, many of which are outside of the companies’ control, and
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results, performance or achievement, or industry results, to
differ materially from any future results, performance or
achievements, expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically
consider the risks referred to in KW’s filings with the SEC,
including KW’s Form 10-K, which are available on KW’s website and
at www.sec.gov, including, but not limited to, the following
factors: difficulties in successfully integrating the two companies
following completion of the merger and the risk of not fully
realizing expected synergies from the merger in the time frame
expected or at all; increases operating costs, results in
management distraction or difficulties in establishing and
maintaining relationships with third parties or makes employee
retention and incentivization more difficult; disruptions in
general economic and business conditions, particularly in
geographies where the companies’ respective businesses may be
concentrated; volatility and disruption of the capital and credit
markets, higher interest rates, higher loan costs, less desirable
loan terms and a reduction in the availability of mortgage loans,
all of which could increase costs and could limit the companies’
ability to acquire additional real estate assets; continued high
levels of, or increases in, unemployment and general slowdowns in
commercial activity; the companies’ leverage and ability to
refinance existing indebtedness or incur additional indebtedness;
an increase in the companies’ debt service obligations; the
companies’ ability to generate a sufficient amount of cash from
operations to satisfy working capital requirements and to service
their existing and future indebtedness; the companies’ ability to
achieve improvements in operating efficiency; foreign currency
fluctuations; adverse changes in the securities markets; the
companies’ ability to retain their senior management and attract
and retain qualified and experienced employees; the companies’
ability to retain major clients and renew related contracts; trends
in use of large, full-service commercial real estate providers;
changes in tax laws in the United States, Europe or Japan or other
jurisdictions that reduce or eliminate deductions or other tax
benefits the companies receive; the possibility that future
acquisitions may not be available at favorable prices or upon
advantageous terms and conditions; the companies’ ability to
dispose of assets; and costs relating to the acquisition of assets
the companies may acquire could be higher than anticipated. Except
as required by law, KW does not intend to update publicly any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
KW-IR
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Kennedy WilsonInvestorsDaven Bhavsar, CFADirector
of Investor Relations+1 (310)
887-3431dbhavsar@kennedywilson.comorMediaEmily HeidtDirector
of Public Relations+1 (310) 887-3499eheidt@kennedywilson.com
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