The Lightstone Group affiliate, Prime Outlets Acquisition Co. LLC, is paying a total of $115.5 million for Prime Retail, a self-administered, self-managed REIT. The deal also calls for the buyer to assume approximately $511 million of the company's debt.

Under the terms of the agreement for the acquisition, which officials of both companies expect to close within the next 30 days, Prime Retail's Series A preferred stockholders will get $18.40 per share. Holders of Series B preferred stock will get $8.169 per share, and holders of Prime Retail common stock will get $0.17 per share.

And once the deal closes, Prime's agreement of limited partnership under which it conducts most of its business, Prime Retail LP, will be amended and restated, according to the company's president and CFO, Robert A. Brvenik. A majority of existing limited partners has agreed that existing common units in the operating partnership will be exchanged for a like number of preferred units.

The buyout of Prime Retail is part of an aggressive ongoing acquisition and expansion program on the part of Lightstone. Founded in 1988 and headed by president and CEO David W. Lichtenstein, Lightstone owns and manages a diversified portfolio of 16,000 apartments, as well as office, industrial and retail properties. That portfolio currently totals more than 9.1 million sf of space in 18 states and Puerto Rico, according to Lichtenstein.

Prime Retail, meanwhile, presently owns and/or manages some 36 retail outlet centers totaling about 10.2 million sf of gross leasable area. The company, which also dates to 1988, owns about 154,000 sf of office space as well, according to Brvenik.