Locally based Cohen Financial arranged a $152 million refinancing of a large portfolio of Walgreen Co. drugstores, substantially boosting the client's cash flow. Joel Simmons, a partner in Cohen Financial's Skokie, IL office, says the transaction involved locking in a rate for the new financing as well as locking in a yield maintenance hedge that protected the property owner from a potential increase in the prepayment penalty to the old lender.

Steve Olsen and the team behind CB Richard Ellis Investors' Global Net Lease Partners have launched a new investment fund, the Prescott-GNLP Corporate Trust LP, whose investors include the Gordon P. Getty Family Trusts. Structured as a private REIT, the fund is expected to have a total of $150 million of equity that should translate to between $500 million and $600 million of acquisitions in the single-tenant office and industrial sectors.

One of the topics the Tenant-in-Common Association will discuss at its annual conference in Las Vegas next month is "What Happens When a Deal Goes South?" While the notion of underperforming assets may not be a pleasant topic to dwell on, it brings up important issues such as underwriting assumptions and investor communications that have the potential to affect the success or failure of a sponsor's business and the long-term good standing of the industry.

The country's third-largest chain of drugstores--one of the most sought-after property types in the net lease market--will boost its standing and size with a deal for the US assets of a Canadian retailer valued at approximately $3.4 billion.

European capital on the equity side and franchise loans on the debt side are two new initiatives Capital Lease Funding Inc. is using to grow its business. There are hints at other growth-minded developments in the future, too.

Michelle Napoli is editor of Net Lease forum, from which this article is excerpted. New York City—One of the most established net lease REITs and one of the newest plan to merge into a more diversified company with what the two pin down as a business enterprise value of $4.6 billion. When Lexington Corporate Properties Trust of New York City and Newkirk Realty Trust Inc. of Boston and Jericho, NY, combine, the newly created Lexington Realty…

Michelle Napoli is editor of Net Lease forum, from which this article is excerpted. While American Financial Realty Trust officials have yet to say why they canceled their Nareit REITWeek meetings--leading to speculation that significant changes may be imminent--they continue to announce agreements that are, according to a spokesperson, pieces of the company's broader initiative. …

Michelle Napoli is editor of TIC Monthly, from which this article is excerpted.Calabasas, CA—New sponsors continue to swell the industry's ranks, despite…