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Duane Morris Clears Path for Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust's $2.7 Billion IPO
Kaufman leads effort to win SEC, NASD and state approval for one of the largest private REIT IPOs in 2003
When Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust needed help clearing its mammoth $2.7 billion IPO filing, Inland turned to Duane Morris. With heightened concerns and scrutiny by the SEC and NASD for direct participation programs and private REITs, Inland had to prepare its extremely complex filing with extraordinary caution and care, all in a limited timeframe.
Working closely with Inland Western, the Duane Morris team, led by David Kaufman, drafted the voluminous registration statement, with numerous exhibits which included Duane Morris' tax opinion and legality of securities opinion, for review and clearance by the SEC, the NASD and 50 state securities regulators. Additionally, Duane Morris reviewed numerous marketing pieces and negotiated selling agreements with the individual broker dealers.
Several complex securities issues required "No Action" relief from the SEC. Duane Morris was able to persuade two different divisions of the SEC to approve the "No-Action" letter requests during the SEC review of the registration statement, a request rarely granted by the SEC. With SEC clearance, Inland was allowed to proceed with one of the largest private REIT IPOs in 2003.
As one of the fastest growing REITs in the nation, Inland Western has strategically acquired more than 60 large, multi-tenant retail properties. With Duane Morris' assistance, Inland Western continues to build its impressive holdings and offers its shareholders the distinctive advantages of publicly registered, but not traded REIT investment.
"In preparing for our IPO, we presented Duane Morris with a demanding task. Duane Morris embraced that challenge and amazed us with their skill and diligence in achieving our goals." - Robert D. Parks, Chairman, Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust, Inc.