ProLogis Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript

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2009-10-22 12:29:15.0

Tags: Asset, Better Business Bureau, Call Transcript, Earnings, ProLogis, Capital Structures, Asset Management, Balance Sheets, Finance, Operational Planning, Business Operations, Financial Statements, Financial Accounting, Seeking Alpha

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions). Your first question comes from Steve Sakwa with ISI Group.

Steve Sakwa - ISI Group

Bill, can you just maybe talk about your targeted leverage ratio. You’ve obviously done a lot, but as you think about the possibility of continuing the issue equity, how should we think about where you want the balance sheet to be versus where it is today?

Bill Sullivan

Steve, let me sort of reiterate some of what we’ve talked about in the past, which is at this point and we have been for a while focused. I think we want to get back to that BBB plus rating, and right now we got the split rating at effectively BBB flat and BBB minus, and so from that, we want to bring down get debt to a reasonable level. It is there today from a book basis, but there is disconnect today between book and NAV.

So I think that there are opportunities and we're seeing it already in terms of stabilizing, if not declining cap rates that will improve our NAV and bring it closer to book. So in the sort of the near-term being in the next 18 months or so, I would love to see that debt ratio get down into the low to mid 50s versus what is perceived on a NAV basis today to be 60% plus.

As importantly, we want to focus on monetizing the land and leasing up the pipeline, because the other key measure is our interest coverage ratios, which we want to get well-north of two times and get back to that BBB plus rating.

Walt Rakowich

Steve, this is Walt. I’m going to just add a little bit more teeth to what Bill was saying. Our stated objective really has been to bring down the debt, but I think we want to do it over time and do it in a rationale way at this point in time, and we kind of see doing it through a number of different things. Obviously, we did do the CEO program this quarter, but, I think longer-term, really, we're focused on asset sales.

We'll be focused on increasing the value of our land from an NAV perspective, in terms of the way the market thinks about it in their mind. We’ll be focused on increasing value of our non-income producing assets, meaning primarily our development through leasing, and frankly what we're beginning to see is a settle out, as Bill said, a more reasonable valuations to our assets just with some cap rate declines and I think you’re going to see some rental increases overtime.

 

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