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Regency Centers Prices Stock Offering

The Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Shopping center developer Regency Centers Corp. said Tuesday it expects to raise $269.4 million in a public offering of 8.7 million shares of common stock.

The real estate investment trust priced the offering at $32.50 per share and said it plans to use the net proceeds from the sale to repay debts and cover general corporate expenses. Underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy another 1.3 million shares.

The offering is expected to close on Friday. Shares rose 5 cents to $34.17 in morning trading Tuesday.

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based REIT said Monday it expects first-quarter funds from operations, or FFO, to range between $53.7 million, or 76 cents a share, and $55.1 million, or 78 cents a share. That falls in line with its previous guidance, but lower versus the same period last year.

Management also revised its 2009 guidance for FFO downward, projecting it will range between $3.25 and $3.50 a share.

Wall Street analysts expect Regency FFO of 81 cents a share for the quarter and $3.41 a share for the full year, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Funds from operations, a key measure of a REIT's performance, is earnings with depreciation and amortization added back in.

The company also said Monday that management plans to recommend the quarterly dividend be cut to about 45 cents a share from about 73 cents a share, payable on May 20, in a bid to "preserve financial flexibility."