Hot apartment market presents $375M opportunity for Landmark Apartment Trust
By Margie Manning
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 20, 2015

Landmark Apartment Trust Inc. wants to raise up to $375 million in an initial public offering of its common stock.

A hot market for apartments is driving the IPO. Multifamily was the first sector of commercial real estate to grow post-recession, as people who lost homes to foreclosure or had damaged credit became renters, as Tampa Bay Business Journal's Ashley Kritzer previously reported.

Landmark, a Tampa-based real estate investment trust, has been rapidly growing since 2012. It owns 71 apartment communities and has a controlling interest in six properties held through joint ventures, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company had an aggregate 23,978 apartment units, with average occupancy of 93.4 percent as of Dec. 31, and average monthly revenue per unit of $927.

Landmark intends to recapitalize its current stock , redesignating those shares as Class A common stock, a statement said. The number of shares to be sold and the price range for the IPO have not yet been determined, but the proposed maximum offering is $375 million, according to the SEC filing.

Proceeds from the IPO will be used to redeem outstanding convertible preferred stock and repay promissory notes, with any remaining proceeds being used for general corporate purposes.

Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. and Citigroup Capital Markets Inc. are acting as joint book-running managers for the IPO.