First Potomac plans to use the net proceeds to pay down its line of credit. If the numbers work out as CEO Doug Donatelli expects, First Potomac will have approximately $100 million at the ready for acquisitions.
"We don't have anything under contract right now, but we think it is in an interesting time to be looking at transactions," he tells GlobeSt.com. The last acquisition the company made was in December 2009, when it acquired Corporate Campus at Ashburn Center.
At the time, the three-building park was only 45%-occupied; within the last few weeks First Potomac has inked two leases that brought the 194,000-square-foot business park to full occupancy.
Typically First Potomac levers its equity by 50%, Donatelli says, although there are exceptions: because Ashburn Center was more than half vacant, it didn't place any leverage on that acquisition. First Potomac hopes to spend its newly raised equity over the foreseeable future--within six to nine months, give or take, depending on the opportunities available, he says.
That is a significantly stepped-up pace from the preceding year or two. Indeed, it is reminiscent of First Potomac's early days, Donatelli says. "When we were growing rapidly we were acquiring about$75 million a quarter--it would be great to get into that mode again."
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