COLUMBIA, MD-Corporate Office Properties Trusthas completed its public offering of 6.9 million preferred shares,which will pay an annual dividend of 7.35%. The offering generatednet proceeds of approximately $166 million. Book runners for thetransaction were Wells Fargo Securities andBofA Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith.The senior co-managers were Citigroup Global Markets,KeyBanc Capital Markets and Raymond James &Associates.

The transaction was all in a day’s work for the REIT industry,which has been clocking in respectable levels of capital raisingthus far in 2012. SNL Real Estate reports thatyear to date, as of June 1, common equity deals accounted for $8.46billion of gross capital offerings, senior debt totaled $8.23billion and preferred equity totaled $4.78 billion. In theprior-year period, common equity offerings totaled $11.52 billion,senior debt reached $8.65 billion and preferred equity accountedfor $2.62 billion.

The shifts in capital-raising patterns between 2011 and 2012 areinteresting and understandable, Jason Lail,manager of Real Estate Research at SNL, tells GlobeSt.com. “Thereare a couple of things that might make preferred equity anattractive alternative to common equity,” he says. “One, the medianrate for year to date preferred issuances has declined a littleover 60 basis points in comparison to the same time last year.” Inshort, preferred equity has become cheaper for REITs, which requirelower dividend payments than they did the same time last year.