JDN Unsecured Notes, Stock Upgraded

ATLANTA-Bondholders of JDN Realty Corp.’s senior unsecured notes are getting good news today as New York-based Fitch Ratings upgrades $160 million of the notes to BBB- from BB. The notes are due 2004 through 2007. Fitch also upgraded about $50 million of JDN outstanding preferred stock to BB+ from B+.

Fitch likes the recently completed $1.1 billion merger of the Atlanta-based company with Developers Diversified Realty Corp. of Beachwood, OH. Fitch sees the deal as “a strategic fit in terms of asset quality and tenant compatibility, while further enhancing DDR’s nationwide geographic presence and increasing the overall asset base of DDR by approximately 30%.”

The JDN bonds will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of DDR. Fitch says the DDR acquisition of JDN “could potentially improve bondholders’ positions with the unencumbering of certain JDN assets, such as DDR’s use of a short-term $300 million unsecured bridge facility to repay $235 million outstanding on JDN’s secured bank facility,” with the balance applied toward the repayment of JDN’s $75 million of senior unsecured notes.