ProLogis Gets Cash From Asset Sales To Reduce Debt

DENVER (AP) — Distribution-facility owner ProLogis, a real-estate-investment trust, said Tuesday it has received a total of more than $1.3 billion in cash from previously announced asset sales that will help pay down debt.

Those sale proceeds, and an additional $140 million from another pending transaction, will allow the company to make "substantial progress toward our goal of de-leveraging our balance sheet by $2 billion by the end of 2009," Chief Executive Walter Rakowich said.

All three major ratings agencies downgraded ProLogis' debt ratings late last year, although the Denver-based REIT's primary ratings remain at investment-grade levels. In November, ProLogis announced a series of steps to reduce debt and expenses. ...