Digital Realty to Offer Notes

Digital Realty Trust, L.P. – the operating partnership entity of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR - Snapshot Report)), a real estate investment trust (REIT), has recently priced an underwritten public offering of 3.625% senior unsecured notes worth $300 million. The notes are scheduled to mature in October 2022 and are priced at 98.684% of their par value .

The notes will feature semiannual interest payment on the first day of the months of April and October each year. The interest payouts will commence on April 1, 2013.

J.P. Morgan - part of J.P Morgan Chase & Co (JPM - Analyst Report); Morgan Stanley (MS - Analyst Report) - a global financial firm; Credit Suisse - part of Credit Suisse Group (CS - Snapshot Report); Goldman, Sachs & Co - part of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc (GS - Analyst Report); and Citigroup - part of Citigroup, Inc (C - Analyst Report) acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

The net proceeds from the debt offering are expected to be utilized by the operating partnership to repay debt including all or a portion of outstanding borrowings under the existing revolving credit facility, for acquisitions and redevelopments and for other general corporate purposes.

At the end of second quarter 2012, cash and cash equivalents for the company stood at $47.7 million. The company had $324.4 million debt outstanding on its global revolving credit facility as of June 30, 2012. Unsecured term loan stood at $520.9 million, while total debt aggregated $3.4 billion. . This strategic move aims to provide financial flexibility.

Digital Realty provides flexible and cost effective data center facilities to a wide range of customers, including domestic and international companies across multiple industry verticals. At present the company’s portfolio includes 109 properties totaling approximately 21.1 million square feet of space (including 2.2 million square feet of redevelopment space).

Digital Realty currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term Hold rating. We also have a long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.