The transaction follows a $33-million sale-leaseback CPA(R):15 completed with Berry Plastics in 2003 and includes its headquarters and largest production facility in Evansville, IN, a manufacturing facility in Baltimore, and a facility in Lawrence, KS. All facilities are being leased back to Berry Plastics on a long-term basis.

Harris tells GlobeSt.com that this is the third transaction that WP Carey has completed with Berry Plastics, and the proceeds were used to finance a small add-on acquisition that they closed in conjunction with the sale-leaseback. "The timing of the transaction was driven by this add-on acquisition, and was not impacted by market conditions."

Harris continues that "Berry is a very important tenant of ours and we were excited to be able to complete another transaction with them and meet their timeframe. Over our 35-year history we have excelled in periods of market distress, and we expect the coming years to present lots of great opportunities for our investors."

Berry Plastics is a leading manufacturers and suppliers of a diverse mix of plastic packaging products including open top containers, closures, aerosol overcaps, drink cups, prescription vials, flexible packaging, tapes and specialty coated products. Berry Plastics sells a broad range of products to over 13,000 customers including McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, Hershey, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and Bayer as well as smaller specialty businesses. Berry Plastics is majority owned by private equity sponsor Apollo Management.

"We are happy to be working with WP Carey again," notes Ira Boots, chairman and CEO of Berry Plastics, in a prepared statement. "The sale-leaseback of these three facilities allowed us to raise funds for an add-on acquisition. We look forward to working with WP Carey on future projects down the road."