Excel Trust, a newly formed retail REIT targeting value oriented community properties, filed last Thursday with the SEC to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering. The San Diego, CA-based company plans to acquire, finance, develop, lease, own and manage community and power centers, grocery anchored neighborhood centers and freestanding retail properties. Excel Trust, which was incorporated on Dec. 15 of this year and has no operating history to date, plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol EXL. Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, and UBS Investment Bank are the lead underwriters on the deal, for which pricing terms and timing were not disclosed. Post IPO, the retail REIT will own an initial portfolio of seven retail properties (191,611 square feet) and one commercial office property (82,157 square feet). Its predecessor booked $3.7 million in sales for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2009, up 21% from the year-ago period.
