ATLANTA—Inland American REIT has sold a SunTrust net leased portfolio for $240 million. An investor purchased all 139 retail bank branches, most of which are located in the Southeast United States. The portfolio spans 715,000 square feet.

Jones Lang LaSalle represented the seller. JLL managing directors Guy Ponticiello, Bruce Westwood-Booth, and Rob Bickel and vice resident Brian Shanfeld led the team on the net leased transaction.

“This sale marked a prime opportunity for investor to acquire a large portfolio absolute net leased to one of the nation's leading financial institutions,” says Ponticiello. “The secure, growing cash flow of the SunTrust portfolio enables them to provide consistent returns for investors.”

Ponticiello says the SunTrust portfolio is not the only large scale sale of triple net leased assets he expects to see this year. That's because portfolio acquisitions of this size allow investors to deploy capital quickly and efficiently, making them a formidable force in the market.  

“Furthermore, despite the recent increasing financing costs, investors tend to keep leverages low or acquire on an all-cash basis, giving them the ability to withstand any major disruption within the debt markets,” he explains. “The ability for sellers and occupiers to capture strong pricing due to the attractive, low cap rate environment is continuing to be a motivating force and we expect a significant amount of new offerings to hit the market in the second half of the year.”