W. P. Carey Traditionally 'Investing for the Long Run'

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- W. P. Carey Inc. (WPC) completed its first day of trading as a REIT, with shares down 1.69 percent to $48.17 on Monday.

President and CEO Trevor Bond said in a statement early in the day that the increase in scale and liquidity that would result from its REIT conversion would enhance its appeal to individual and institutional investors, giving it better access to public equity markets.

Almost 10 months ago the company's founder, William Polk Carey, passed away after leading the iconic sale-leaseback legend to more than four decades of consistency and repeatable dividend success. Carey once explained his company's value proposition:

"These returns demonstrate our success in fulfilling our most important corporate mission: Investing for the long run. Our aim is to help our investors build and maintain lifestyles, and have the resources they need to meet their obligations and achieve their dreams, without constant worry about where the income to fund will come."

As one of the largest triple-net REITs in the nation, W.P. Carey owns 429 properties comprised of around 39.1 million square feet leased to more than 130 companies around the world with a diverse portfolio across geographies, industries, and property types.

The newly merged companies -- W. P. Carey & Co. LLC and Corporate Property Associates 15 Inc. -- are now one, W. P. Carey Inc., The REIT has more than $5 billion in net-leased real estate ($3.1 billion in equity market cap and $1.9 billion in debt).

The current dividend yield is 5.3%.

The definition of Carey's "long run" dates back to the company's founding in 1973 and its subsequent stock listing in 1998. As a pioneer of the "sale/leaseback" industry, Carey focused on strategic stable cash flows generated from long-term leases to creditworthy tenants.

Accordingly, Carey was the first to exploit the business model and the company's trademark -- "Investing for the Long Run" -- became synonymous with dividend repeatability.

In fact, Carey has consistently increased the company's dividends each of the past 45 consecutive quarters and the annual dividend growth averaged 2.4% from 1998 to 2011.

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