- National Retail Properties
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National Retail Properties (NYSE: NNN) is a real estate company based in Orlando, Florida. The company invests in single-tenant, triple-net lease retail properties.
History
National Retail Properties was formed in October 1984, organized as a real estate investment trust called Golden Corral Realty Corporation. The owners of the Golden Corral restaurant chain wanted a way to reward their employees with stock and creating a REIT was their best way to do this. By the end of that year, the newly formed REIT had 10 properties valued at roughly $4.5 million and was an over-the-counter (OTC) stock not listed on a major exchange.
By 1992 the operators of Golden Corral realized that their expertise was in restaurant operations and not real estate so they agreed to hire an outside management team to run the REIT, severing the ties with Golden Corral. The company’s investment strategy was expanded beyond restaurants to include all types of retail businesses. That same year the stock was listed on the American Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “NNN.”
In 1993 the company’s name was changed to Commercial Net Lease Realty and the portfolio totaled 84 properties in 20 states. Shares of NNN began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on January 7, 1994.
By the spring of 1997 the company had paid its 50th consecutive quarterly dividend and had $500 million in assets. On January 1, 1998, NNN became a self-advised, self-managed REIT – a fully independent company. This was an important step toward receiving an investment grade rating by the three major rating agencies: Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch; which significantly lowered NNN’s cost of capital by allowing the company to borrow money at lower rates than non-investment grade rated companies.
NNN was first added to the exclusive Mergent’s Dividend Achievers list which includes companies that have paid increased annual dividends for 10 or more consecutive years in 2000. By 2001 the company had reached $1 billion in assets. In December 2001, NNN acquired Captec Net Lease Realty, Inc., another publicly-traded REIT, and its first Preferred Stock (Series A) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
In February 2004 Craig Macnab was named the company’s Chief Executive Officer and NNN was added to the S&P 600 Small Cap Index. NNN acquired its second publicly-traded company, National Properties Corp., in 2005, further broadening the company’s market segment to include convenience stores for the first time.
In May 2006, NNN’s corporate name was changed to National Retail Properties in order to better reflect the company’s national scope and focus on retail concepts.
As of March 31, 2009, NNN owned 1,002 properties in 44 states with more than 200 different tenants, and had a total market capitalization of more than $2.4 billion. It has paid increased annual dividends for 19 consecutive years, something which only 150 of the more than 10,000 publicly-traded companies can claim. Current analysts covering National Retail Properties include Citigroup Inc, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Raymond James Financial Inc., Stifel Nicolaus & Company Inc., and Wachovia Securities, LLC.
References
Categories:- Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- Real estate investment trusts
- Financial services companies of the United States
- 1984 establishments in the United States
- Companies based in Orlando, Florida
- Real estate companies of the United States
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