Greenwich-based private investment firm Eldridge Industries has added deeper financial ties with real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson, purchasing $300 million in preferred stock and tripling the investment target in their joint-venture fund.
In a statement Friday, Kennedy Wilson said Eldridge’s $300 million investment would be primarily used to pay down corporate debt, though an unspecified amount would also go toward acquisitions globally.
Under the terms of the agreement, Eldridge, run by former Guggenheim Partners executive Todd Boehly, is buying $300 million in convertible perpetual preferred stock carrying a 5.75 percent annual dividend rate, with an initial conversion price of $25 per share.
Eldridge and its affiliate firm Security Benefit are also raising the target of their $500 million joint-venture real estate fund with Kennedy Wilson to $1.5 billion. The partners are targeting commercial real estate assets in the western United States.
To date, Kennedy Wilson and businesses of Eldridge (including units Security Benefit and Cain International) have invested in two office properties totaling 509,000 square feet. One is the Sunset North office building in Bellevue, Washington, in which they paid $227 million in September, while the other was 9350 Civic Center Drive in Beverly Hills, California. No details were released on the latter acquisition.
Cain International also invested alongside Kennedy Wilson in the 390,000 square-foot office portion of the Coopers Cross mixed-use project in Dublin, Ireland, which is currently under development.
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