CBL Completes Financing Activity

CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (CBL - Snapshot Report) recently announced that it has obtained four separate loans totaling $383.0 million. After the repayment of these loans, the company is expected to generate a new financing activity with proceeds of $160 million.

During 2011, CBL completed more than $2.3 billion in financing activity, including three credit facilities totaling $1.15 billion and property-specific debt totaling $1.18 billion. The recent financing activities are expected to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and attain financial flexibility. At the end of third quarter 2011, cash and cash equivalents of CBL stood at $61.9 million.

CBL reported third quarter 2011 funds from operations (FFO) of 48 cents per share compared with 47 cents in the year-earlier quarter. Funds from operations, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and other non-cash expenses to net income.

CBL is one of the largest and most active owners and developers of malls and shopping centers in the United States. CBL owns, manages 159 properties, including 87 regional malls/open-air centers. The properties are located across 26 states totaling 86.5 million square feet including 3.6 million square feet of non-owned shopping centers.The company looks forward to sustaining its success through expansions, renovations and aggressive leasing at its properties.

CBL currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term Hold rating. We are also maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock. One of its competitors, Simon Property Group Inc (SPG - Analyst Report) also holds a Zacks #3 Rank.

Read the full analyst report on SPG

Read the full analyst report on CBL