The offering was priced at $34 per share. Since the Jan. 19 offering commenced, shares of RAS on the NYSE have risen more than 5% on heavy trading to hit a succession of 52-week highs. The latest, $36.67 a share, occurred in early trading today, Jan. 23, following the announcement of the over-allotment sale.

The 52-week low of $24.81 a share occurred on May 17, 2006, prior to the Dec. 11, 2006 merger of locally based RAIT Investment Trust and Taberna Realty Finance Trust that resulted in a new company, now named RAIT Financial Trust. It is headed by mother and son, Betsy Cohen, chairman, and Daniel Cohen, CEO, who separately headed their previous companies.

RAIT is a specialty financial REIT focused on the mid-size commercial real estate market. The primary benefit of the merger, according to Betsy Cohen, is the company's ability to add expertise in collateralized debt obligation. CDOs represent a flexible form of unsecured lending.