Cousins, Parkway to Merge, Spin Off Houston Assets

The merger and spin-off will continue “Cousins’ heritage as a proven ‘sharpshooter,’ ” Gellerstedt says.

ATLANTA and ORLANDO—Office REITs Cousins Inc. and Parkway Properties Inc. said Friday that they had agreed to combine in stock-for-stock merger. Simultaneously, the Houston-based assets of both companies will be spun off into a new publicly-traded REIT, known for now as HoustonCo.

The merger and spin-off will advance Cousins’ strategy of owning class A office properties in Sun Belt markets, and will also give investors in HoustonCo an opportunity to capitalize on the expected recovery in that city’s energy sector. HoustonCo initially will have five office properties totaling 8.7 million square feet in Houston’s Galleria, Greenway and Westchase submarkets, while Cousins’ portfolio will expand to 41 assets totaling 15.8 million square feet.