Post Properties Prices 3.5M Shares At $17.75 Each

ATLANTA (AP) — Post Properties Inc. said Thursday it has priced an offering of 3.5 million common shares at $17.75 per share, a nearly 8 percent discount to the stock's Wednesday closing price of $19.28.

The Atlanta-based apartment real estate trust said the offering would raise about $59 million, after deducting an underwriting discount and expenses.

The underwriters will have an option to buy another 525,000 shares.

The 3.5 million shares that Post said Thursday would be offered is up from 3 million that the company indicated when it initially announced the plans on Wednesday, and the underwriters' overallotment is 75,000 greater than the 450,000 share figure listed in Wednesday's announcement.

The company currently has about 44.4 million shares outstanding.

The potential dilution to current stockholders sent shares of Post Properties down $1.03, or 5.3 percent, to $18.25 in opening trading.

The company said it would use the money to repay $39.4 million of mortgage debt secured by its Post Fallsgrove property, as well as a $4 million prepayment penalty to repay that debt. The rest of the money will be used for general corporate purposes, possibly including the company's development pipeline or the repurchase of outstanding preferred stock or senior unsecured notes.

J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo Securities are the joint bookrunning managers for the offering.