Lexington Corporate Properties Trust – a real estate investment trust that owns and manages office, industrial, and retail properties net leased to major corporations throughout the United States and provides investment advisory and asset management services to investors in the net lease area – is considered a market leader in providing corporations with capital through sale/leaseback transactions.
   "In addition to creating liquidity, sale/leasebacks remove real estate assets and related liabilities from a company's balance sheet," says Dick Rouse, vice chairman and chief investment officer of New York, N.Y.-based Lexington Corporate Properties Trust. "Companies are increasingly recognizing that outsourcing the ownership of real estate allows them to invest their capital in more productive ways. They can focus on their core competencies and enjoy the benefits of an off-balance sheet operating lease."
   A recent sale/leaseback transaction includes Lexington's acquisition of five industrial/manufacturing facilities with Dana Commercial Credit Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dana Corp., for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $78.5 million each. Each property is net leased to Dana Corp. through June 2025. To finance the acquisition, Lexington arranged to obtain $67.52 million of non-recourse first mortgage loans from Countrywide Financial, secured by individual first mortgages on each of the properties.    To broaden the universe of investments that Lexington seeks to acquire, the company announced in October 2005 the formation of a new specialty investment company – Lexington Strategic Asset Corp. (LSAC). LSAC will expand Lexington's acquisition opportunities by investing directly and indirectly in general use properties with private or middle market type tenants, special purpose properties, non-U.S. properties located in the Americas with U.S. dollar denominated rent, and other specialized facilities or assets integral to the operations of its tenants.
   In December 2005, LSAC announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to purchase interests in two facilities – one in Omaha, Neb., and one in Tempe, Ariz. – in a sale/leaseback transaction with (i)Structure, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infocrossing, Inc., for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $25 million. The Omaha facility, which LSAC acquired for roughly $12.9 million and net-leased to (i)Structure, LLC through November 2025, is a data center containing about 86,800 sq. ft. (8,064 sq. m.) located on a 3.74-acre (1.5-hectare) site. The Tempe facility, acquired by LSAC for around $12.1 million and net-leased for a 20-year term, contains about 60,000 sq. ft. (5,574 sq. m.) and is located on a 10.98-acre (4.4-hectare) site.