US equity REIT capital offerings soar in May

Editor's note: This article is published monthly with current data as available.

US equity real estate investment trusts' capital market activity surged in May, with the industry pulling in $7.30 billion in the month, more than double the $3.25 billion raised in April.

Of the total, $7.28 billion came through debt offerings. Common equity offerings accounted for $9.5 million, while the remaining $6.0 million was obtained through preferred equity offerings, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

American Tower Corp. pulled in the most capital in May

Telecom tower-focused American Tower Corp. collected the largest amount during the month, raising $2.71 billion through four debt offerings. The first two completed on May 9, worth $657.4 million and $547.8 million, and are expected to mature in 2027 and 2031, respectively. The subsequent pair completed on May 22 and were valued at $650 million and $850 million. They will mature in 2028 and 2033, respectively.

The specialty REIT will use the net proceeds to repay existing indebtedness and may temporarily be invested in short-term marketable securities.

In second place was healthcare REIT Welltower Inc., which sold $1.04 billion worth of unsecured notes due May 15, 2028.

Data storage-oriented Iron Mountain Inc. sold $1.00 billion worth of senior notes due in 2029.

– Set email alerts for future Data Dispatch articles. – Access a spreadsheet listing the offerings completed year-to-date in 2023 by publicly listed US equity real estate investment trusts. – For further capital offerings research, try the global real estate capital offerings activity template.

As of May 31, the single largest common equity offering year to-date was industrial REIT Rexford Industrial Realty Inc.'s $644.0 million offering completed March 31. Communication-focused Uniti Group Inc.'s $2.60 billion offering, which wrapped up Feb. 2, remained the largest debt offering completed year-to-date.

At $5.51 billion, American Tower has raised the most capital year-to-date, followed by Uniti Group at $2.60 billion. Industrial REIT Prologis Inc. ranks third with $2.56 billion of capital raised as of the end of May.

Specialty sector leads year-to-date capital offerings

The offerings in May brought the year-to-date total to $28.40 billion, 5% below the capital raised during the same period in 2022.

The specialty sector — advertising, casino, communications, datacenter, energy infrastructure, farmland and timber real estate — accounted for the largest share of total capital raised year-to-date at $13.70 billion. The industrial sector was next at $5.02 billion, followed by the retail sector at $3.92 billion.