PHILADELPHIA-Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust is offering four million of its preferred shares at $25 per share with 8.25% dividends in a sale closing Friday. The underwritten public offering is expected to raise $96.2 million for operating expenses and revolving debt.

Underwriters for the public offering of Series A Preferred shares have a 30-day option to purchase up to 600,000 additional shares. Wells Fargo Securities, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., are acting as joint book-running managers for the stock sale. J.P. Morgan Securities and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. are senior co-managers. Deutsche Bank Securities, Janney Montgomery Scott, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), Oppenheimer & Co., PNC Capital Markets and TD Securities are acting as co-managers.

Quarterly dividends will be paid starting June 15 at an annual rate of 8.25%, which is equivalent to $2.06 per share on an annualized basis.

The company, which was founded in 1960 as one of the country’s first real estate investment trusts, intends to use net proceeds from the offering to repay debts and for other corporate purposes. PREIT original assembled a diversified commercial real estate portfolio. Since a merger with the Rubin Co. in 2003, it has focused on retail and shopping mall properties.

In his most recent comments on earnings, the company’s outgoing CEO, Ronald Rubin, said there had been sales growth at 31 malls owned by PREIT over the last two years. Joseph F. Coradino will become CEO in June and Rubin will serve as executive chairman.