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Rithm Property Trust Inc. (RPT)

Q3 2010 Earnings Call· Wed, Oct 27, 2010

$14.32

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust third quarter 2010 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow a formal presentation. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host Dawn Hendershot, Director of Investor Relations for Ramco-Gershenson. Thank you, you may begin.

Dawn Hendershot

Management

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust third quarter conference call. At this time, management would like me to inform you that certain statements made during this conference call which are not historical, may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although, Ramco-Gershenson believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumption, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ from expectations are detailed in the press release and from time-to-time in the company’s filings with the SEC. Additionally, we want to let everyone know that the information and statements made during the call are made as of the date of this call. Listeners to any replay should understand that the passage of time by itself will diminish the quality of the statements made. I would now like to introduce Dennis Gershenson, President and Chief Executive Officer and Gregory Andrews, Chief Financial Officer, both of whom will be presenting prepared remarks this morning. Also with us today are Thomas Litzler, Executive Vice President of Development; Michael Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Asset Management; and Catherine Clark, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions. At this time, I’d like to turn over the call to Dennis for his opening remarks.

Dennis Gershenson

President

Thank you, Dawn. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We’re pleased you could join us. Our third quarter results continue to add as a progress we’ve experienced since the beginning of the year in all aspects of our business. Our operating metrics have shown steady, positive improvements. We made additional major strides in filling anchor vacancies as well as terminating and replacing under-performing major retail penalties. Also, during the quarter, we reactivated our acquisition program and made significant progress on our developing sites. Even the non-cash impairment charge which we have taken this quarter relates to advances we’ve made with anchored tenants and partners in finalizing land prices for sales agreement at our four developments. Further, our leasing activities in the month of October, not only builds upon our achievements in the first nine months of the year but indicate that we will be more successful in advancing our operating metrics than the goals we set at the beginning of 2010. Although, the leasing progress we have made year-to-date indicates a sense of optimism on the part of national and local tenancies, we recognized that the economy is still in a fragile state with the holiday season looming large. Therefore, we tamper our enthusiasm for the balance of 2010 and ‘11 with the conservative mindset we’ve maintained over the last 12 months. Let me take a moment to frame for you the progress we’ve made in filling our larger vacancies and replacing under-performing retailers since the start of 2010. During the first nine months of the year, we have signed 11 anchor leases, accounting for over 300,000 square feet. Of that number, four mid-box leases were executed in the third quarter. Today, we’re announcing that we anticipate signing at least four additional national anchor tenant agreements, totaling over a 100,000 square…

Greg Andrews

Management

Thank you Dennis. Our quarter was marked by a continuing focus on leasing and management, but also on the deployment of a modest amount of capital at healthy returns. As Dennis noted, we invested $32 million between the acquisition of Liberty Square in Chicago and the purchase of the note at Merchants Square in Indianapolis. These are two well-located shopping centers in core markets with upside potential from lease up and intensive management. Once we consolidate Merchants Square in the fourth quarter, we expect an unleveraged first year return on these two investments exceeding 9.3%. We can’t assure you that we will be able to find these types of opportunities frequently, but we are cognizant that our hurdle rates for new investments remain high. Therefore, our guiding principle on the investment front is disciplined, which we will continue to apply to the growing deal flow that we are seeing. Turning to the balance sheet, during the quarter we increased our on-balance sheet borrowings by approximately $40 million. As previously noted, $32 million of this was for the acquisitions in the quarter. The remaining $8 million funded the payoff of our share of two mortgages on joint venture properties. As a result of these payoffs, our joint venture balance sheet is now less than 50% leveraged on a book basis with debt of $470 million against assets of over $1 billion. This JV debt will reduce by another $32 million once we complete the consolidation of Merchants Square. Our consolidated balance sheet also remains strong. Allow me to cite a few measures. Our debt to market capitalization was 55% at quarter end, and is 53% at our current stock price. Our interest coverage ratio is 2.0 times and our fixed charge coverage is 1.7 times. The weighted average term of our…

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Rich Moore with RBC Capital Markets. Please do your question. Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: Hello, good morning guys. A question for you on Merchant Square. You were saying Greg that that was a center that you guys are interested in. And I’m curious what you’re thinking on that center because it looks to me like you have a vacant Hobby Lobby as far as I can tell and rents that are below average. So maybe some color on why that’s a good one.

Dennis Gershenson

President

Good morning, Rich. It’s Dennis. I made several comments. The first is that based upon the configuration of the shopping center, the Hobby Lobby vacancy and they still have four years left to run on their lease even though there is no longer an occupancy because somebody else bought that lease for them to move elsewhere. But the center is at two very significant roads. It’s in a very high income area. It’s anchored by a supermarket that is the best supermarket in the area. Marsh is doing extremely well in the location and for all intents and purposes, it’s much more of a supermarket anchored shopping center than it was that anything that might have risen to the level of a power center. So that really in a sense with the departure of Hobby Lobby and still with four years left to run on their lease and its location in the center which does not impact the other retailers, they really have given us this significant amount of time to find creative and new uses that we fill that space. So, we have some higher quality tenants in the shopping center which respond to the great area and we feel very comfortable that some of the vacancies that exist and there’s not a ton of vacancy in the space or in the center. We’ll be able to move reasonably quickly to fill up. Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: Okay, thank you Dennis. And then, is there a particular reason that you can’t speak for your previous partner or your partner for a bit more time? Is there any particular reason that Teachers wanted out of that particular center?

Dennis Gershenson

President

You mean as far as the loan is concerned? Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: Yes. And then, they’re selling the rest of it to you, right?

Dennis Gershenson

President

No, they were not our partner. Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: They were not your partners?

Dennis Gershenson

President

Yes, obviously with the change in capitalization rates and due to a variety of factors, we approached Teachers and wanted to – we cast alone. They felt that it was in their best interest without really explaining to us why that what – they were better off selling the note. And so, we participated in the auction on the note and we were fortunate enough to win the auction and add a very advantageous price. Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: Okay. All right. Great. Good. I got you. And then, as far as the impairments went, is there anything else you have for sale that might fall into the same sort of situation where when you agree – I’m glad you have some centers because I think more on the land side things where you might sell something and then, as a result of the agreement to sell have additional impairments.

Greg Andrews

Management

Rich, this is Greg. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks on page 12 of the supplement, we kind of break out the impairment by property. And you’ll see, there’s sort of something across the board for almost every land holding that we have. So I think what that tells you is that we’ve gone through a very thorough and comprehensive review of any land that we might intend to sell or hold available for sale or a market for sale and essentially wrote that down to its current fair value. Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: Okay, yes, and that’s good disclosure, and I appreciate that you’re giving us.

Greg Andrews

Management

Now, as you know, that’s based on current market condition. So if anything were to change in the market, then that’s a different story. But as with the current market conditions, we’re very comfortable working with where we ended up. Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: Okay, good. Thank you, guys. And the last thing, do you have CapEx numbers for the quarter or will you put those in the supplemental? I’m thinking maintenance CapEx, tenant improvements, leasing commission, that kind of thing.

Greg Andrews

Management

Yes, Rich. We’ve been studying putting that into our supplement and I think we’ve had that question from a number of analyst as well as investors, and it’s on our radar strength to make that change. To be honest with you, this quarter, with all the other items that we had to deal with including these impairment charges, we didn’t have time to do that. But I think that that’s an important kind of disclosure that we need to consider adding going forward. Rich Moore – RBC Capital Markets: Okay, great. Thank you, guys.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Vincent Chao with Deutsche Bank. Please state the question. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Hi, good morning, everyone. Just a question, you guys have done a good job with big boxes and some of that or much of that are going to come through, I guess in 2011 in terms of conventions. Do you guys have a sense of what the NOI pick up is going to look like from those conventions on an annualized basis or specifically in 2011?

Greg Andrews

Management

Yes, Vincent, it’s a little early. We’re – as I’ve mentioned, we’re going through our budgeting process. We have anticipated dates for openings, for all of the leases that we’ve done and even for the leases that we anticipate doing, but we are still working our way through kind of what the impact of that will be – Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Okay.

Greg Andrews

Management

On our numbers next year. So, unfortunately, I don’t have any that I can share with you right now. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Okay, that’s fair. And then just going back to the impairments just quickly, it sounded like 50% of the lands that was on the books was sort of tested as it was security held for sale. And it looks take maybe about 30% discount from orders on the books for. Is that sort of – I mean is that something we can apply to the remaining 50% in terms of end value? I’m assuming that you didn’t have to test the 50% held for sale?

Greg Andrews

Management

Yes, that’s right. We did not, and therefore I can’t really opine on to how to make any adjustments to that value. But I think what you started with is broadly accurate.

Dennis Gershenson

President

Let me just add something. And that is, in real estate negotiations especially when you’re dealing with anchor tenants, there is a natural ebb and flow of the ability to dictate terms, maybe as a little strong, but to feel that you have the upper hand in negotiations. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Right.

Dennis Gershenson

President

The reason for these specific impairments asset development projects is because we have advanced our discussions with those retailers who will buy their parcels to a point where we know basically what they’re willing to pay. They happen to hold more cards in their hands than we do at the moment. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Got you.

Dennis Gershenson

President

So that dictates that side of the equation. But as we’re executing many of these mid-box transactions, we are getting approximately the same kinds of rents that we would have gotten several years ago from the mid-box retailers. So if that were the case, then that would justify potentially higher values relative to the land we will continue to hold for development. But it remains somewhat fluid until we put our vital stamp on a specific development and move forward with that critical mass and know really what kind of rents we actually have. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Okay, that’s fair. And then just a question on the updated guidance, are there any returns on retail gains that contemplated in the fourth quarter?

Greg Andrews

Management

The answer is basically no. I think we expect to have one more land sale that will generate some cash. I don’t think we’re anticipating any kind of sizeable gain on that. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Okay. And just one last one if you don’t mind. Just in terms of the holiday outlook, you mentioned it early in the call, Dennis, just that being in terms of unknown. What’s your take so far from your tenants in terms of that’s shaping up?

Dennis Gershenson

President

Well, the tenants are modestly optimistic. I mean they’re merchandising for certainly a reasonable Christmas. And so, I think you’re going to see an improvement. But with the type of information that continues to come out in all of the periodicals, warning people about where the economy is at, I think it gives the consumer some degree of pause. I am always a half-class fool kind of guy, so I’d like to think that we’ll have a reasonably successful Christmas. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Okay.

Dennis Gershenson

President

I certainly know that that’s what my wife is aiming. Vincent Chao – Deutsche Bank: Okay, thanks a lot.

Greg Andrews

Management

Thanks Vincent.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. (Operator Instructions). Our next question comes from Ben Yang with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Please state your questions. Ben Yang – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods: Hi, good morning. You guys are obviously scouring the market for acquisitions. And I’m just wondering, is it your expectation that there are other the Merchants’ Square type opportunities in your existing portfolio basically where you can buy out your partner’s interest in some existing properties?

Dennis Gershenson

President

In the main, I would say no. I mean never say never, but I think for the most part and you would see that although we haven’t broken it down between the off-balance sheet, non-balance sheet assets that vis-à-vis the re-signings that we have made some very significant progress in a substantial number of the assets where we experienced a vacancy or where we bought a center with vacancy already in it. And so our joint venture partners in the main are very happy with the progress that we’re making on those assets and I think that they’re going to be waiting for those assets to mature before we actually sit down and consider doing something as far as even buying them out or selling the assets. Ben Yang – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods: Okay, so if those opportunities aren’t going to be there, can you just maybe comment on what you’re seeing in terms of acquisitions that might interest you and in terms of what the size might be, whether you can close before the year ends, and maybe what your expectations are in terms of buying for 2011? Is it too early kind of comment on that or do you see anything in the pipeline at this point?

Dennis Gershenson

President

Well, it’s interesting, number one, in my remarks I mentioned we are seeing an acceleration of opportunities that are coming our way. We’re actually continuing to see some off-market deals which gives us an opportunity hopefully to buy them without a proxy competition. There is a possibility that we’re looking at one asset whether or not anything could come from that before the end of the year. Normally a typical process would require more than approximately 60 days, because we aren’t in contract with anything at the moment. As far as 2011 is concerned, we do have a general figure in mind. But I think we need to hold back until its part of the big picture with our 2011 budget which at that junction we’ll be more than happy to share with you. Ben Yang – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods: Okay. And how are you sourcing those off-market opportunities or do you have a team kind of going out there or are these opportunities coming to you?

Greg Andrews

Management

Yes, that’s right. We’re certainly well known in the industry. We have a $2 billion platform which gives us plenty of cap in the industry to be recognized. So, on occasion, those deals are coming to us, but we also have a team that’s very active working the relationships that all of us have in the industry to source opportunities. So to sort of amplify what Dennis said earlier, we’re looking at a lot of different stuff of different sizes and configurations, geographies and so forth. But I think as I try to emphasize, we’re being very selective. We’re cognizant that for whatever reason that we don’t necessarily understand, our cost of capital remains very high, and so we’re being very selective and disciplined about where we’re choosing to allocate our capital and I think you’ll see us continue to do that. Ben Yang – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods: Okay, great. And then switching gears, I saw an article recently that you guys are abandoning a development project in Michigan called North Point Count Center, but that project does not appear in your development schedule. And I’m just wondering how many shadow projects you’re currently working on that are going to appear in the supplement at this point?

Tom Litzler

Analyst · Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Tom Litzler here. We actually terminated that project last year, but we have that land in Jackson under contract throughout the balance of this year. We just elected to terminate the contract early so that the township could get the property back and do what they wanted with it, and that’s the only piece that we have in that regard.

Dennis Gershenson

President

Yes, that was never a piece of property that we owned as Tom said. It was a piece of property that we had optioned and we were investigating. The genesis of that interest had been the same as in a number of our other projects which was that there were anchor tenants who could not get into our existing shopping center which was called Jackson Crossing at that same location. The difficulty was, however, that it would’ve been a very substantial undertaking and it just wasn’t appropriate for us to do that at that particular time. So it may have actually just expired as far as the contract recently, but that’s something that we backed away from at least 9 months ago. Ben Yang – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods: Okay, got it. And just final question, you talked about plans to sale some land. Is that part of the $48 million or $45 million of asset sales that you are expecting for the balance of this year or is that kind of in the –?

Greg Andrews

Management

That’s a good question. And to clarify, the $40 million to $45 million are income-producing properties. In addition to that, we are marketing land. And as I mentioned we have a contract for that one parcel at Hartland and hopefully we’ll have some more contracts during the course of next year. Ben Yang – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods: Okay, great. Thanks guys.

Greg Andrews

Management

Okay.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Nathan Isbee with Stifel Nicolaus. Please state your question. Nathan Isbee – Stifel Nicolaus: Hi, good morning. Just following up on the detail you provided about the anchor leases you signed. After you signed the four additional in the fourth quarter, can you just lay out how many additional vacancies you’d have in the anchor space?

Michael Sullivan

Analyst · Stifel Nicolaus

Nate, it’s as we saw in the – at the end of the year, given all of the mid-box signings we’re anticipating, it looks like we’ll have approximately 500,000 square feet give or take still vacant in mid-box. Off that 500,000, about 160,000 of it is leased, so it gives us about 340,000 vacant. It’s difficult to talk about spaces, because we’ve subdivided the Albertsons at Mission Bay and the Wal-Mart at Village Lakes from what was two spaces to five. But that’s 500,000 at yearend with 160,000 leased. Nathan Isbee – Stifel Nicolaus: Okay. And just assessing that pool, is it safe to say that that’s generally tougher space to lease and that we should not expect the significant progress you’ve made this year to continue in that space next year?

Michael Sullivan

Analyst · Stifel Nicolaus

Actually, we do expect continued velocity in our mid-box spaces. Right now we’re projecting conservatively in the first two quarters of ‘11 to lease about 125,000 square feet of that 340,000 remaining. That will be approximately five additional leases. So, we expect the velocity to continue quite frankly into the first two quarters of ‘11. Nathan Isbee – Stifel Nicolaus: Okay. And if you could just give a little more detail on the progress that you’ve made at Aquia, this rate activities at Aquia this quarter.

Tom Litzler

Analyst · Stifel Nicolaus

Nate, Tom Litzler. The area continues to benefit from [inaudible] as you know. At this point in time, we have some more leases in the works for the retail portion of the project. We’re also competing for a number of RSPs for additional office users that would be down there, and we are working with several different potential office joint venture partners which would basically buy the deal from us, so our exposure would be limited in those regards. We continue to work with our residential partner in their plans to put the residential plans and integrate those with the retail plans for Main Street. And in addition to that, we’re speaking with a couple of different hotel chains which has expressed some sincere interest in locating on the site. So still all the planning stages and the marketing stages down there. Nathan Isbee – Stifel Nicolaus: Okay. All right, thanks.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Tayo Okusanya with Jeffries & Company. Please state your question. Tayo Okusanya – Jeffries & Company: Yes, good morning. Just along a Ben’s line of questioning on the acquisitions front, could you talk a little bit about what you’re seeing pricing wise, and also if you could provide the cap rates for the Liberty Square acquisition?

Greg Andrews

Management

Yes, hi Tayo, it’s Greg Andrews. Tayo Okusanya – Jeffries & Company: Hi Greg.

Greg Andrews

Management

What we’re seeing on the acquisition side is continued downward pressure on cap rates for A quality properties and in particular in the hot markets which generally are aligned with the coasts. We’re seeing less of that downward pressure when it comes to B or C assets, and maybe somewhat less of that also kind of in the middle of the country. And I think what we disclosed is that the two acquisitions, Liberty and Merchants together will generate a first-year return of in excess of 9.3% for us. Tayo Okusanya – Jeffries & Company: Why don’t we talk about the A assets in A markets. Would you hazard to guess about cap rate is close to 8.5% or –?

Greg Andrews

Management

Well, the cap rates always depend on the specific circumstances. I think we’ve seen cap rates as low as 6% for certain assets in that kind of bracket. Tayo Okusanya – Jeffries & Company: Okay. And then, when we – second question – thanks for that. When we start to think about upcoming debt maturities in 2011, how should we start to think about your plans to refinance that?

Greg Andrews

Management

Well, I think we’ve made some comments about that on our second quarter call. We generally have financed our company in the mortgage market. And as we look out to the mortgages that mature over the next 18 months, on average those are at reasonable loan to values where we really shouldn’t have trouble refinancing the properties to extend the maturities. And so, that’s essentially the plan. And then with respect to the $30 million term loan, we continue to look at our options including as a backstop ability to just pay that off using our line of credit, but also any number of other sources of capital or unencumbered assets that we could finance with mortgage debt. Tayo Okusanya – Jeffries & Company: Okay. And so, just, if you were to put mortgage debt on, what kind of rates would you expect to get?

Greg Andrews

Management

In the low 5s. Tayo Okusanya – Jeffries & Company: Great, low 5%. All right, thank you very much.

Greg Andrews

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I’ll turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks. Thank you.

Dennis Gershenson

President

We just want to say thank you again for your interest and your attention and we look forward to communicating with you, if not before, in approximately 90 days. Have a good holiday.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today’s conference. All parties may now disconnect.