HRPT Properties Trust Announces Name Change, Reverse Stock Split, Dividend Increase And Sales Of $231 Million Of Properties

HRPT Properties Trust (NYSE: HRP) today announced the following corporate actions:

Name Change:

Effective July 1, 2010, HRP will change its name to “CommonWealth REIT”. On and after that date, the common shares of HRP will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, under a new symbol “CWH”.

When it completed its initial public offering in 1986, HRP was known as “Health and Rehabilitation Properties Trust” and it primarily owned healthcare rehabilitation facilities. In 1994, HRP expanded its investment focus to include various senior housing facilities, and its name was changed to “Health and Retirement Properties Trust”. In 1998, HRP changed its investment focus to include commercial office properties, and the present name of “HRPT Properties Trust” was adopted. Today, HRP is primarily invested in office and industrial properties and no longer makes investments in healthcare properties. The Board of Trustees determined that adopting the new name “CommonWealth REIT” may be an appropriate way to avoid any lingering confusion that the company may be a healthcare focused real estate investment trust, or REIT.

As of March 31, 2010, HRP owned 518 properties with approximately 66.8 million square feet in over 60 markets in 34 states and Washington, DC, representing total investments of $6.6 billion. For the three months ended March 31, 2010, 41.0% of the company’s property net operating income (“NOI”) came from suburban office properties, 37.3% of NOI came from central business district, or CBD, office properties and 21.7% of NOI came from industrial and other property investments.

Reverse Share Split:

HRP also announced that its Board has determined to implement a common share combination by which the number of its common shares outstanding will be reduced by three quarters: for every four existing common shares owned, shareholders will receive one new common share. Fractional shares will be issued where appropriate.