Wheeler REIT announces pricing of preferred stock and warrants

Published April 28, 2014 by Robert Powell, III

Virginia Beach-based Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. on Friday announced the pricing of the public offering of 720,000 shares of its Series B convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase 864,000 shares of its common stock.

The preferred stock and the warrants will be allocated in units, with each unit consisting of five shares of preferred stock at a price of $25 per share and six warrants permitting investors to buy one share of common stock at an exercise price of $5.50 per share, subject to adjustment.

The sale of preferred stock and warrants is expected to generated $18 million.

The preferred stock will have an annual interest rate of 9 percent and will have a conversion price of $5 per share of common stock, subject to adjustment. The preferred stock will convert automatically into shares of the  common stock if the 20-day, volume-weighted adjusted closing price of the company’s common stock exceeds $7.25 per share on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

The warrants have five-year terms.

Maxim Group LLC and Newbridge Securities Corporation are acting as joint book-running managers of the offering. National Securities Corporation and MLV & Co. are acting as lead managers of the offering.

The underwriters may purchase 108,000 shares of preferred stock and 129,000 warrants to cover overallotments.

Wheeler REIT  specializes in community centers, neighborhood centers, strip centers and free-standing retail properties. Wheeler’s portfolio is located in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest regions of the U.S.