The Rouse Company completes acquisition of eight premium retail centers

Officials of The Rouse Company announced that the transaction to acquire the assets of Rodamco North America, N.V. (Rodamco) was completed on Friday, May 3, 2002.

The Rouse Company along with Simon Property Group and Westfield America Trust paid approximately $5.3 billion, to acquire interests in high quality regional shopping centers across the United States, plus interests in other real estate assets. The Rouse CompanyÂ's investment was approximately $1.5 billion, including $675 million of assumed debt and perpetual preferred stock.

The primary assets acquired by The Rouse Company were interests in eight premier regional retail centers: Water Tower Place and Oakbrook Center in the Chicago area; Lakeside in suburban Detroit; North Star in San Antonio; The Streets at Southpoint in Durham, NC; Collin Creek in Plano, Tex.; Willowbrook in northern New Jersey; and Perimeter Mall in Atlanta (See attached schedule).

The Rouse Company and the other two companies also jointly acquired several non-retail center assets, generally considered non-core assets and intended for sale. Since the January 16, 2002 announcement of this acquisition, significant progress has already been made on these dispositions, for prices at or above the projected value. Abbey Properties (a California-based strip shopping center company), RoPro U.S. Holding, Inc. (a holding company for the real estate manager, RREEF), Tishman Hotel Realty (owner of several major hotel properties) and 745 Fifth Avenue (office building in Manhattan) all have been sold. In addition, Urban Retail Properties Co. has been organized to continue the third party management business of Rodamco and to build it into the premier third party shopping center management company in the industry.

'This was an extremely complicated transaction,' said Anthony W. Deering, Chairman and CEO of The Rouse Company. 'The end result, though, is that we have reinforced our portfolio with interests in eight premier properties that had average sales per square foot of $460 in 2001. Each of these centers fits our desired strategic profile - a great location in a major market; multiple, high quality department stores; and an excellent tenant line up. We believe this acquisition and these properties will add significantly to Funds From Operations and shareholder value from day one.'

(source: The Rouse Company)

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