In its SEC filing, the specialty finance REIT says it may issue up to 200 million common shares and 25 million preferred shares, and will use the funds for general corporate purposes. These purposes may include repayment or redemption of debt, redemption of preferred equity, capital expenditures and working capital. Currently, RAIT has approximately 64 million common shares and 6.5 million preferred shares outstanding. Calls to RAIT for additional details were not returned by deadline.

GlobeSt.com reported in February that RAIT ended 2007 with a $379-million loss including a loss of $183.5 million in Q4 '07 alone, although its revenue for the quarter was up 25% year-over-year from Q4 2006. Its Q3 loss was $244 million. The losses were related primarily to credit deterioration in the residential mortgage and homebuilder sectors. Last December, GlobeSt.com reported that 10 executive officers of RAIT voluntarily forfeited $11.8 million in equity incentive awards. The largest of these forfeitures was $3.7 million that had been granted to chairman Betsy Cohen. In an SEC filing announcing the forfeitures, Cohen said, "the action of our senior executives reflects their commitment to aligning their long-term incentive compensation with our shareholders' interests."

More recently, RAIT reported that its Q1 2008 earnings were $2.14 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $3.02 per diluted share for Q4 '07. The first quarter of this year also saw $331.4 million of gross asset production and the company had a book value of $25.63 per share, according to a news release from the REIT.