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BioMed Realty Trust Commemorates Five-Year Anniversary as a Public Company

Friday, September 18, 2009 General News
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SAN DIEGO, Aug. 6 BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BMR), The Leading Provider of Real Estate to the Life Science Industry(R), announced today that its board of directors and corporate officers will ring The Closing Bell(R) at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the company's initial public offering. The ceremony will take place at the New York Stock Exchange, 11 Wall Street in New York City. BioMed's founders, Alan D. Gold, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Gary A. Kreitzer, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Director, will preside over the ringing of The Closing Bell(R).
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"This is a great day for our team," said Mr. Gold. "Through their hard, smart work, our industry-leading team of professionals, now over 125 strong, has consistently produced results well beyond the initial expectations we had on that first day of trading in 2004, when we owned interests in just five properties, representing less than 400,000 square feet and generating less than $12 million in annualized base rents. Today, five years later, we have assembled the industry-leading portfolio of life science real estate, including 69 properties representing 10.5 million square feet and roughly $280 million in annualized base rents. While we are pleased with our progress to date, we are even more excited about the future for BioMed and the opportunity we see to create value for our shareholders, building on the strong foundation that we have established."
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Mr. Gold further noted, "We are very encouraged by the significant volume of partnership transactions and capital raising we have observed in the life science industry over the last several months, particularly within our tenant portfolio. And while we remain very cautious with respect to the current leasing environment, the recent capital raising successes from our tenants serve as an indication that the primary mechanisms for funding the life science industry appear to be functioning effectively. In particular we note the continuing critical linkage between scientific advancements, capital raising and the leasing of space."

Mr. Gold continued, "It is noteworthy that these capital raising events extend across BioMed's tenant base. While research institutions, A-rated public companies and larger, established public companies comprise the vast majority - roughly 75% - of our tenant base, we are pleased to see healthy capital raising activity from our mid-stage and early-stage tenants as well."

One-half of BioMed's top ten tenants are research institutions or A-rated public companies, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children's Hospital Boston, Genzyme Corporation, Centocor, Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) and Schering Corporation. Each of BioMed's other top ten tenants publicly announced significant capital raising transactions in recent months:

Many of BioMed's other tenants and their affiliated companies have also publicly announced significant financing transactions in 2009, some of which include:

In addition, the company announced the early retirement of approximately $44 million in mortgage notes secured by its Monte Villa Parkway (Bothell, Washington), Bayshore Boulevard (Brisbane, California) and 9885 Towne Centre Drive (San Diego, California) properties utilizing funds from the company's unsecured line of credit, which had a weighted average interest rate of 1.4% on the unhedged portion of the outstanding debt at June 30, 2009. As a result of this transaction, and following the company's success in securing a new $350 million mortgage financing for the Center for Life Science | Boston in June, BioMed has no remaining consolidated debt maturities for the balance of 2009 and 2010.

The company also announced today the signing of a new lease at its Monte Villa Parkway property with AVI BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVII), a company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-based drugs. AVI BioPharma has agreed to lease approximately 19,000 square feet of laboratory and office space, which was previously leased to MDRNA, Inc. MDRNA continues to lease the remainder of the Monte Villa Parkway property, constituting approximately 32,000 square feet.

Kent Griffin, President and Chief Operating Officer of BioMed, commented, "The actions BioMed has taken over the course of several months at Monte Villa Parkway exemplify how we actively manage our portfolio and mitigate risk by working closely with our tenants, as well as prospective tenants, to understand their needs. In this case, we identified an opportunity and executed on a series of transactions that enabled us to transition underutilized space to a new tenant with attractive growth prospects and a strong capital position. We are very pleased to support AVI BioPharma's decision of relocating its headquarters to the Seattle area in order to streamline its corporate operations and upgrade its capability to add new drug candidates to its pipeline."

About BioMed Realty Trust

BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on Providing Real Estate to the Life Science Industry(R). The company's tenants primarily include biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, scientific research institutions, government agencies and other entities involved in the life science industry. BioMed Realty Trust owns or has interests in 69 properties, representing 114 buildings with approximately 10.5 million rentable square feet. The company's properties are located predominantly in the major U.S. life science markets of Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York/New Jersey, which have well-established reputations as centers for scientific research. Additional information is available at www.biomedrealty.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: general risks affecting the real estate industry (including, without limitation, the inability to enter into or renew leases, dependence on tenants' financial condition, and competition from other developers, owners and operators of real estate); adverse economic or real estate developments in the life science industry or the company's target markets; risks associated with the availability and terms of financing, the use of debt to fund acquisitions and developments, and the ability to refinance indebtedness as it comes due; failure to manage effectively the company's growth and expansion into new markets, or to complete or integrate acquisitions and developments successfully; risks and uncertainties affecting property development and construction; risks associated with downturns in the national and local economies, increases in interest rates, and volatility in the securities markets; potential liability for uninsured losses and environmental contamination; risks associated with the company's potential failure to qualify as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and possible adverse changes in tax and environmental laws; and risks associated with the company's dependence on key personnel whose continued service is not guaranteed. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

-- On August 3, 2009, Human Genome Sciences, Inc., the company's largest tenant, raised approximately $357 million in net proceeds from its common stock offering. -- On July 30, 2009, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, the company's second largest tenant, announced that it will receive $105 million, in addition to potential milestone payments, from the sale of commercialization rights of telaprevir in Japan and other countries in the Far East to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, after announcing its intention to sell certain future European milestone payments for telaprevir aggregating $250 million earlier in July and raising approximately $314 million in net proceeds from a common stock offering in February 2009. -- On July 23, 2009, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company's fourth largest tenant, received a $20 million milestone payment from Bayer Healthcare for initiation of a Phase III clinical trial. -- On May 4, 2009, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company's sixth largest tenant, entered into an agreement with Laboratorios Almirall, S.A. to license the European rights to develop and commercialize linaclotide, providing Ironwood pre-commercial licensing fees and milestone payments totaling $95 million, including a $40 million upfront licensing fee. -- On July 8, 2009, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company's tenth largest tenant, raised approximately $50 million in net proceeds from a common stock offering. In addition, Arena entered into a $50 million equity financing commitment and a $100 million secured loan in recent months.

SOURCE BioMed Realty Trust, Inc.
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