W. P. Carey Inc.
Q3 2013 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 5 Nov 2013

[Operator:]

Good morning, and welcome to the W. P. Carey Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kristin Brown. Please go ahead.

[Kristin Brown:]

Thank you, Maureen. Good morning, and welcome, everyone, to our Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Joining us today are W.P. Carey's President and CEO, Trevor Bond; and Chief Financial Officer, Katy Rice. Today’s call is being simulcast on our website, wpcarey.com and will be archived for 90 days. Before I turn the call over to Trevor, I need to inform you that some statements made on this call are not historic fact and may be deemed to be forward-looking statement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from W. P. Carey's expectations are listed in our SEC filings. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Trevor.

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Thanks, Kristin. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. It was a strong quarter, and I'll discuss some of the highlights and our investment outlook before turning the floor over to our CFO, Katy Rice. First, our adjusted funds from operation was $1.03 per share for the quarter, bringing us to $3.09 per share year-to-date. Second, we raised our annualized dividend by 2.4% to $3.44 per share, which represented our 50th consecutive quarterly increase. And third, despite some uncertainty with respect to the macro environment, we've already exceeded the goals we had set initially for a combined investment volume, and we crossed the $1 billion mark by the end of the third quarter, which, I think, is a first for us. That figure masks somewhat our current attitude of caution towards the investment environment for net lease assets within the United States, the competition for which has grown more intense, and I'll be discussing our views on that in a moment. But first, more detail on our volume. We structured $429 million of investments on behalf of the managed REITs during the third quarter. And subsequent to the quarter close, we structured an additional $180 million, adding about $1.1 billion of new investments to assets under management for the year-to-date through October 31. $498 million of that came in the first half and the balance was from July 1 through October 31. Also we acquired one property on behalf of W.P. Carey Inc. in the quarter for approximately $63 million, bringing our total for the year to about $249 million for the public REIT and a combined $1.4 billion for the entire W.P. Carey Group, including all managed REITs. The CPA programs activity this quarter came from 4 different net lease transactions and some self-storage deals. Two of the net lease deals were discussed on our last call in August, including a logistics facility in Poznan, Poland leased to H&M, which is one of the world's largest clothing retailers, and also a new research and development facility in the Netherlands for Royal Friesland, which is one of the world's largest dairy companies. In August, we also closed on State Farm's operations center in Austin, Texas, which was valued at about $116 million and also a $15 million auto dealership in the Dallas area. We also purchased 4 self-storage facilities for CPA

[Catherine D. Rice:]

Thanks, Trevor, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to review our financial results for the third quarter, walk you through our portfolio metrics and then finish up with a discussion of some of our balance sheet initiatives for the remainder of the year and the coming quarters. Let's start with our earnings. Our third quarter earnings were fairly consistent quarter-to-quarter with both Q1 and Q2. However, the year-to-year comparison is not really meaningful as it reflects the impact of the CPA

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is Sheila McGrath, Evercore.

[Sheila McGrath:]

Trevor, I was at the NYU conference recently and it seemed the consensus view that investment opportunities right now are best in Europe. I was just wondering if you could talk about your views there and also how you take into account the additional risks of investing in Europe.

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Well, I think we've maintained that posture really for the last several years even through some of the periods of perceived crisis in the euro and peripheral eurozone. So I would concur with whatever conclusions were reached by those participants. We haven't really stopped our efforts over there. With respect to the risks, clearly, the one that would be foremost on most people's minds at any given point would be the currency risk. And we have, as many of the participants on the call know, actively hedged against our euro risk for a number of years and recently took advantage of increased strength in the euro to push out our forward contracts even further, I think, to about 6.5 years out at attractive rates. And so -- and that's been the strategy all along, in periods of weakness of the dollar to enhance our hedging with respect to the euro. And the rest of it, I think, we mitigate the risk by having people on the ground in Europe. We have a fully staffed office in Amsterdam, which we've talked about on other earnings calls, more than 20 people fully functional across all areas that are important. And I think that gives us the ability to quickly get over to any potential areas of problems or meet with tenants on a regular basis and stay in front of them to make sure that we're on top of their needs. That's in addition to our investment office in London.

[Sheila McGrath:]

Is -- but Trevor, is there a rule of thumb in terms of how much cap rates that you look at -- you want to see a differential versus the U.S.?

[Trevor P. Bond:]

I don't think so. I think we look at each individual investment on its own and based on its own risk and do factor in that hedging that I mentioned. And I would say that pound for pound, we do see a differential. It's not based on a quota that we have set ahead of time.

[Sheila McGrath:]

Okay. And then just quickly, on the go-shop provision expired during the quarter and the document, the S-4, revealed that there were 2 potential bidders and in both cases, they requested WPC waive fees. I just wanted to know your thoughts on that, kind of those bidders and your view on waiving fees, et cetera.

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Well, I think it was an easy decision for us to make to not waive fees that we had earned. And I think it would have been against the interest of all of our shareholders to do so. So I'm not sure what more I can say other than that wasn't a commercially reasonable request.

[Sheila McGrath:]

Okay. Last question, just on CPA

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Yes, we are pleased with it. We still have dry powder to deploy from CPA

[Operator:]

Our next question is Paul Adornato, BMO Capital Markets.

[Paul E. Adornato:]

Trevor, just to follow up on Europe, is there an upper limit as to how much exposure you'll have to Europe in any of the funds?

[Trevor P. Bond:]

There is no upper limit in terms of what the prospectus discussed and what we described to investors. I think a prudent investor's going to look at concentration risk, as you know, Paul. So we'll keep an eye on that. And if it became what we thought to be too much concentration risk in Europe, then we would back off. We did back off somewhat in 2011 because we weren't quite seeing the returns that we wanted and we felt it was getting a little high. But given the opportunities that we're seeing now, we haven't wanted to slow down.

[Paul E. Adornato:]

Okay, great. And Katy, you mentioned in terms of the lease expirations next year that there might be a couple of vacancies. Was wondering if you could perhaps quantify the vacancies versus renewals and perhaps give us a little bit more color on those assets?

[Catherine D. Rice:]

Yes, in the 2014 maturities, obviously they're sort of somewhat spread throughout the year. But our Asset Management team has been in active dialogue with each of those tenants, really beginning this year as we forecast out sort of where we're going to be. So we have a fairly detailed plan in place for each of those. But I don't have the breakout on exactly what we think we're going to be selling versus re-leasing for you.

[Paul E. Adornato:]

Okay. And I guess from a bigger picture perspective, to Trevor, I appreciate the kind of tone of caution that you have expressed on this call. But was wondering if, as you look out over the entire net lease landscape, since you do have a specialized fund in Carey Watermark, if there were other kind of niche areas within the net lease universe that might be either appropriate for a specialized fund or just inclusion in your existing funds?

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Well, and also we are a prominent player now in the storage sector, as I've mentioned. I mean, in terms of we're nowhere near the big 4 public REITs, of course. But in terms of the scale of the operation and the size of our portfolio, we're in the top 10 in terms of owner-operators, managers of storage. So that's something that we do in the context of the CPAs. And right now, we have no immediate plans to expand our portfolio -- our product offerings, but we are looking at other opportunities. I just wouldn't want to comment on it right now in this call.

[Operator:]

Our next question is John Wollershin [ph], UBS.

[Unknown Analyst:]

Two things. When do you imagine the vote for CPA

[Trevor P. Bond:]

We believe pretty early in 2014, I think.

[Unknown Analyst:]

It's going to slip to the first quarter?

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Well, it's an ongoing process and it's not a 1-day event, as you probably know. It extends over a period of time. And so just to be prudent, I think it's safe to think of it as ending early in the first quarter.

[Unknown Analyst:]

Okay. And if you just look at the private REIT space, they've raised a lot of capital this year. Do think there's maybe some investor fatigue? Are you guys concerned about that as you think about ramping up to CPA

[Trevor P. Bond:]

No. I don't think we're concerned at all that we will be able to raise the full amount, which is $1 billion of the offering. We're not concerned. And we're not concerned about the other side of it, although I should say that we're always focused on it, which is that equilibrium that I mentioned, can you deploy the capital that you've raised. In terms of investor demand, I don't see that abating because the investors in that particular segment of the non-traded REIT space are people who want rising income and these are good income products for that type of investor. And notwithstanding comments about the rise of interest rates and what's happened in the bond market, the alternatives for many investors haven't really become more attractive with all this talk of tapering, et cetera. Where else can you get these kinds of yields? But I think that, that dynamic will continue.

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is Dan Donlan, Ladenburg Thalmann.

[Daniel P. Donlan:]

Trevor, I might have missed this. I was waiting to get on the call for a couple of minutes listening to Rigoletto, so that was enjoyable. But just in terms of raising net lease capital, how do you think that's going to be different with ARCP and Cole potentially being combined as an entity. Do you think that it's one less competitor? You might be able to raise more than you would have otherwise if those 2 had been separate entities? Or what's your thought process there?

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Well, again, to repeat something I'm not sure whether you heard, but it's not our desire or our goal to actually raise more than we're currently raising. So that with respect to an increase in market share, it might be possible. It won't factor into our AFFO growth forecast at all. If we were to double our capital, which we don't intend to do, it wouldn't necessarily change our growth estimates because our growth estimates are based on what we think we can reasonably deploy in a good risk-adjusted way. So even if that merger was to result in a larger market share for us, I don't think it would have a significant impact on our business. And with respect to what it does to the combined volume of those 2 platforms, those 2 fundraising platforms, which are quite formidable, I will admit, no question about it, I really couldn't say. I don't know how that will play out. I don't know how management intends to integrate an internally-managed owned platform with a relationship outside the REIT with externally-managed platforms. I don't know how that's going to -- and I'm sure that their management will have a strategy that they can communicate, but I can't comment on it.

[Daniel P. Donlan:]

Sure. I was just more or less just curious if you thought that might up your market share in which case you might see more capital coming in than maybe what you expect. But going back to the $65.6 million that you raised for CPA

[Trevor P. Bond:]

The fund is in operation for a few months now. It was a slow ramp-up. We did sign on our largest dealer, broker-dealer, fairly recently, only about 1 month ago, 1.5 months ago. And so, as I say, we don't expect that we'll have any problem with the fundraise for CPA

[Catherine D. Rice:]

Dan, what's typical is in the early months we're still working on signing agreements and getting through their due diligence. So it's usually a slower ramp, which is fine with us. As Trevor mentioned, we have dry capital, dry powder in CPA

[Daniel P. Donlan:]

Absolutely. I guess, historically, what has been kind of the monthly run rate for these funds? Is it something around $30 million to $40 million a month or...

[Trevor P. Bond:]

It varies widely and it has exceeded that by a large margin in the closing months for CPA

[Catherine D. Rice:]

It's not linear.

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Yes. It's not linear, that's right.

[Daniel P. Donlan:]

But you would expect probably a pretty large inflow into the fund in back half of the first quarter into the second quarter as some of your potential CPA

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Yes, that could happen. But now, I think, we're fringing on areas where, because it's a public registration statement, I can't comment any more on the sales pace or what might stimulate sales or whatnot. Sorry about that.

[Daniel P. Donlan:]

No, perfectly understood. And then just kind of last question, bigger picture, Trevor. I mean, you guys have been doing sale-leasebacks for 40-odd years now. Just kind of curious how you see the environment on the sale-leaseback side, not necessarily third-party owned properties now versus where you have another prior interest rate cycle. I mean, do you feel like there's just a lot of volume coming direct from people that own real estate and have owned real estate for a number of years? Or what's your view there?

[Trevor P. Bond:]

Well, I think, that you're speaking to the supply of opportunities. And this year it seems as if the supply of opportunities, particularly in the retail space, has been already generated -- already negotiated lease deals, so done by a third party. We think that as the economy continues to expand globally that you will have more companies that start to see sale-leaseback as an attractive alternative form of capital raise as opposed to debt, for instance. And we think that they'll have more confidence and more intention to actually utilize that because they'll have more of a need for it. So over the past few years, sale-leasebacks have been done, for the most part, to delever. And going forward, we think that the sale-leasebacks will be done by corporate owners in order to expand as well, particularly here in the U.S. So that's why I feel that the supply of opportunities will eventually expand and hopefully enough to accommodate the increased inflow of capital into the space. We're certainly seeing that abroad and we think it'll continue.

[Operator:]

Having no further questions, this concludes our question-and-answer session. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.