A press release, issued late yesterday afternoon, says the merger, if approved, will be dovetailed by the structuring of a joint venture, seeded with $450 million to $500 million of assets, some of which could be sold and gain applied to merger costs. It's unclear if the disposition list is solely assets being picked up from the Charlotte, NC-headquartered Summit or a combination of the two companies' holdings. It is clear that Camden will hold minority interest in the JV and continue to manage the portfolio.

A spokesman for Houston-based Camden contact tells GlobeSt.com that NOI will be less than 10% across the board, a longtime goal due to analysts' concerns about over-exposure in Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas. The Summit purchase will add 14,000 apartment units, 50% of which are concentrated in Washington, DC and Southeast Florida, and another 3,700 under-construction units, with 60% rising in Washington, DC. Summit's other developments are located in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Raleigh, NC and of course, its homeport, where the only overlap exists between the two REITs.

"This strategic merger takes both Camden and Summit to the next level in size and potential," Richard J. Campo, Camden's CEO and chairman, says in a press release. The contact says Camden expects to shave three to five years from its growth plan with the merger and become the nation's fifth largest multifamily public company with a $5.7-billion total market capitalization and $2.9-billion equity market cap.