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Safehold Inc. (SAFE)

Q2 2013 Earnings Call· Thu, Jul 25, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, everyone. And welcome iStar Financial’s Second Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today’s conference is being recorded. At this time for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Jason Fooks, Vice President of Investor Relations and Marketing. Please go ahead, sir.

Jason Fooks

Management

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to review iStar Financial’s second quarter 2013 earnings report. With me today are Jay Sugarman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and David DiStaso, our Chief Financial Officer. This morning’s call is being webcast on our website at istarfinancial.com in the Investor Relations section. There will be a replay of the call beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time today. The dial-in for the replay is 1800-475-6701 with a confirmation code of 298455. Before I turn the call over to Jay, I’d like to remind everyone that statements in this earnings call which are not historical facts will be forward-looking. iStar Financial’s actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements and the risk factors that could cause these differences are detailed in our SEC reports. In addition, as stated more fully in our SEC reports, iStar disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as expressly required by law. Now, I’d like to turn the call over to iStar’s Chairman and CEO, Jay Sugarman. Jay?

Jay Sugarman

Management

Thanks, Jason. Thanks to all of you for joining us this morning. We worked hard in the second quarter to begin ramping on investment activity and to set the table to resolve several of the existing NPL assets, both will be important to continue the earnings momentum we have begun to develop and to bridge us until our land portfolio can become a meaningful contributor to earnings in 2015. Our result will likely show up until the second half of the year, we are pleased with the progress we were able to make on both fronts in the quarter. Our pipeline of investments is beginning to grow and several NPL’s are getting closer to resolution that will free up both unproductive capital and significant management resources. More to report on that as the year progresses. On the land front, we are moving as quickly as possible to bring several assets, to a point where our value creation effort should become more tangible. Single-family sector continues to improve. We remain committed to deploying resources to find ways to enhance our returns in all of our project. I’ll talk about some early success material later in the call but first let’s go quick review of the business lines. Our real estate finance book saw continued payoffs but also the closing over the first large investment in our pipeline, $140 million plus preferred investments in Landmark Apartment Trust. Segment profit was $8.2 million, with further new investment closings and more NPL resolution needed to build that number. The net lease book remains relatively stable, and the cap rate in the sector continuing to fall for large scale portfolios, our strong yields and long lease terms look quiet good. Segment profit was $11.3 million for the quarter. We’ve been pretty selective so far in new investments but our net lease team is focused on finding situations where we can add real value. Much like last quarter the operating portfolio continue to benefit from very strong performance from the condominium assets in the portfolio. Strong sales in Miami at Ocean House, 1 Rector Park in New York, The Martin in Las Vegas and the 10 Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, led the way to a strong quarter. Segment profit was $31.1 million, while this number will be hard to sustain as the condo portfolio sales off, we are starting to see a pick up in leasing at several of our transitional assets. Moving to land portfolio, our growing team is making progress despite the continued drag on earnings, with segment profit of negative $14.3 million. We are in dialog with builders on a growing number of lots and continue to seek ways to participate in the firming market for homes in our core development place. More on this segment in a minute, but first let me turn it over to Dave to review the numbers for the quarter in more detail. Dave?

David DiStaso

Management

Thanks, Jay, and good morning, everyone. Let me begin by discussing our financial results for the second quarter of 2013, as well as recent capital markets activities before moving on to discuss our business segments. For the quarter, our adjusted income was $4 million, compared to a loss of $1 million for the same quarter last year. Results in the current quarter included $12 million of loss on early extinguishment of debt associated with the early refinancing of debt. While results in the 2012 quarter included $25 million of gains associated with the bulk sale of 12 net lease properties. Excluding these items, our adjusted income for the quarter would have been $16 million compared to a loss of $25 million in the same quarter last year. Contributing to the year-over-year improvement to adjusted income was $25 million decrease in interest expanse as result of the progress we’ve made over the past year to reduce our cost of capital and overall indebtedness. In additional, we recorded increase income from continued strong residential sales. This was partially offset by lower earnings from equity method investments, following the sale of LNR. Our net loss allocable to common shareholders for the quarter was $26 million or $0.31 per diluted common share, compared to a loss of $59 million or $0.70 per diluted common share for the same period last year. Excluding the aforementioned items, our net loss allocable to common shareholders for the quarter was $15 million versus a loss of $83 million in the same quarter last year. During the second quarter, we issued at par $265 million of 3.875% senior unsecured notes due July 2016 and $300 million of 4.875% senior unsecured notes due July 2018. We used the proceeds from these transactions to repay the remaining $97 million aggregate principal…

Jay Sugarman

Management

Thanks Dave. I mentioned last quarter we tried to offer few markers of value throughout the year as their early stages of certain land assets begin to crystallize value. Obviously, we cautioned that land is never a good business to try to generalize around and certainly are not yet in a position to project larger outcomes. We have seen some success in a few projects and are possibly worth noting. In Miami, we took several steps to unlock value and a parcel land we took back several years ago. Beginning last year, our in-house team and the third-party developer began the process of designing a sales center and preparing the site for construction of 234 unit towers in Ohio and Marina. As Dave mentioned, during the second quarter, we completed the contribution of this land into a joint venture in return for cash and interest in the JV. And once units were released for sale, we see contracts and reservations quickly written on almost the whole tower, first tower. The strong demand should enable construction of the first tower to begin later this year and if this strong demand continues, we’ll generate sizable returns on our basis upon completion of the second tower. One other project with growing moment is our Waterfront Redevelopment along a mile-long stretch of beach in Asbury Park. With a growing and increasingly successful downtown core restaurants, art house, cinemas and local shops, our Asbury Park Waterfront Redevelopment is kicking in the high gear. We’ve been investing continuously over the past several years to upgrade and prepare the Waterfront to follow on the success of the downtown and we recently brought our first project, a 28-unit townhome community called VIVE to market. By only representing 28 units out of likely 2,000 plus total Waterfront units. The sale out of the second phase of units in less than a day has confirmed the strong demand we see developing in the market and should enable us to accelerate our conversations with other home builders going forward. The project team on this one has put their heart and soul into it, and we look forward to being able to build something really special in a market that seems poised to finally live up to its potential. With that, let’s go ahead and open it up for questions. Operator?

Operator

Operator

Michael Kim - CRT Capital Group

Management

Hi. Good morning. Nice quarter and then really appreciate the effort in disclosing more information on asset level detail for investors. Jay, my first question, I know you talked about the pipeline for new investments is growing, a lot of talk in the market, just the impact of the recent uptick in rates? How should we think about where you deploy capital into new investments, what sort of investment tightened asset classes would you favor in a higher interest rate environment?

Jay Sugarman

Management

Thanks Mike. I guess our focus certainly has been on some of the higher yielding opportunities that we think we have a well-positioned company for. So we’re not really in the commodity business. So I think small changes in rates have had a pretty meaningful impact. I think most of our borrowers are looking to make very significant returns on their capital and so small changes in rates probably don’t change their business plans too much and that has allowed us to continue to follow that area pretty successfully. I think longer term if you see rates move up, I think that opens the door frankly for more on the net leasing side of that business. I have seen lots of activity and lower rates have driven cap rates down pretty materially. So back up in rates there actually that would be a little bit good for us. But we’re still seeing plenty of economic activity on the underlying properties and I think 50, 75 basis points probably doesn’t unhinge that.

Michael Kim - CRT Capital Group

Management

Got you. I appreciate that. And nice to see the monetization of some of the stabilized commercial properties during the quarter and just looking at the yield profile, would almost assume that the unleveraged weighted average effective yield for the assets that were sold during the quarter were closer to 10% for these assets. I'm just curious if you can provide some color on these transactions maybe in the type of assets, implied cap rates and the rationale for monetizing?

Jay Sugarman

Management

Yeah. I guess, it’s a mixed bag and again hard to generalize, those cap rates you mentioned sound a little high there is seasonality in the stabilized portfolio, so it’s a little bit difficult to go quarter-to-quarter.

Michael Kim - CRT Capital Group

Management

Okay.

Jay Sugarman

Management

But I would say we sold a commercial property adjacent to one of our condominium of properties. I think that cap rate was more than 6.5 zone. We sold a piece of commercial property on the West Coast that didn’t really have a cap rate, but certainly was a minor piece of a larger portfolio out there just taking more time than we wanted to spend on it. So you’ll see us to continue to peel off stuff that either from the time management perspective or valuation perspective makes more sense for somebody else to own. But again, I think trying to unwind the cap rates we’ll try to do a better job of giving you a little more detail. The largest trade this time was again a commercial piece down in Philadelphia and I think that went off got it at 6.5 within the 6’s.

Michael Kim - CRT Capital Group

Management

Okay. No. I appreciate that. And in the press release and in the prepared remarks you talked about executing about 50 commercial operating property leases for about 300,000 square feet. When you say executed, does this mean this is already reflected in the second quarter or is this more of a timing issue and then kind of when can we expect this to flow through the income statement and what does that do for the effective yield if anything?

Jay Sugarman

Management

As you know, Mike, specifically we’re signing the leases but either just through free rents or actually when the rent begins to kick in. It’s probably a little bit of a lag. So you probably didn’t see much, if any effect in the second quarter from those leases.

Michael Kim - CRT Capital Group

Management

And most of those leases are those kicking in, in the third quarter or is it kind of more two or three quarters out where that might become the typical lag?

Jay Sugarman

Management

Yeah. I can't give you a weighted average, but most of those have a little bit of downtime before the rent starts to come in. So by year end, I would say they are all going to start, giving you an exact date between now and then, I am not sure.

Michael Kim - CRT Capital Group

Management

I understand. Okay. Great. Nice quarter. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And next we go to Amanda Lynam with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Amanda Lynam - Goldman Sachs

Management

Thanks so much for taking my questions. I know that your upcoming debt maturities over the next 2.5 years are very, very modest, but could you just update us on your plans for the capital structure longer term. How are you feeling about the mix of secured versus unsecured debt, to the extent you could talk about any opportunistic things you might be looking to do, would appreciate the color?

David DiStaso

Management

Yeah. I think, given the limited maturities coming up, we are focused, I think a little bit more at this point on trying to match from the asset profile of the pipeline that we think is coming down the pike. So that will probably drive its tenor and it will drive where we go fixed or floating. Longer term, obviously we have said we want to be a primarily an unsecured borrower with a rating in kind of the BB, BA2 range. So we’ve got some work to do there, but those two things are probably driving our vision right now, more than any specific transaction.

Amanda Lynam - Goldman Sachs

Management

Great. Thank you.

Jason Fooks

Management

Operator, any more questions?

Operator

Operator

One moment. And we will go to Jonathan Feldman with Nomura Securities. Please go ahead.

Jonathan Feldman - Nomura Securities

Management

Good morning. Just wondering, if you guys could provide an estimate in terms of your expectations around spend, both operating and CapEx on the land portfolio this year?

Jay Sugarman

Management

Yeah. I think, Jonathan, looking forward we talked about spending approximately $200 million over the next 12 months, on all of the different portfolios. I think on land, you are probably talking about that being approximately half -- we would be spending over the next 12 months in development.

Jonathan Feldman - Nomura Securities

Management

And on a going forward basis, do you expect that spend to moderate next year and in the out years or how should we think about that?

Jay Sugarman

Management

Yeah. I think as more projects come on line, I think you will probably see that increasing over a period of time and then as sales gain momentum you will see obviously cash come back into the company more so than going out.

Jonathan Feldman - Nomura Securities

Management

And then just lastly or even in past calls you have talked about expectations around profitability being centered, I think around 2015. Did you guys just -- there having been since there is a time since you guys have talked about that and the changes in your cost of capital. I just wondered if you had have any thought giving guidance, any current thoughts in terms of when you think you might get a report, net income positive quarter?

David DiStaso

Management

I guess, I’d say, Jonathan, well, two things, one given the very significant proportion of the assets we now own and depreciate on our own balance sheet. Here we think analyze probably not metric, we’re going to track too much. We think adjusted income is the right metric, adding back only depreciation and some of the other factors that we think would bleed off over time. But I do think we are looking at 2015 as a kind of jump step a year when some fairly large land projects go into production. And we should see some -- begin to see some meaningful sales. It doesn’t mean we’re not looking to make progress before that and it doesn’t mean certainly on an adjusted basis, we feel like we have already perhaps broken through. But I don’t think you’ll see us talking about net income very much. You will see us talking about the segment profits and overall adjusted income and yeah, lowering the cost of funds, pulling some of the NPLs into an earnings position, pulling some of the transitional assets in the higher lease state. Those are all good things that will continue to move earnings up. But we think the next, big step for us is to get the $700 million of cash sitting on the balance sheet to work. If we do that successfully, if we redeploy some of the capital, we will continue to come in; will set the stage nicely for the land portfolio to kind of turbo boost that.

Jonathan Feldman - Nomura Securities

Management

Totally understood. And just towards your comment on profitability not being about the best metric to track progress of the company, have you given any more thoughts to or do you have any suggestions for investors newer to the story in terms of value in the company and in particular, on an NAV basis? Is there any additional assistance you guys think you’ll be able to provide in terms of tackling that challenge?

David DiStaso

Management

I think we have done what we can on the finance and the net lease and the operating properties. I have given you the statistics I think. People can make their own judgment on what cap rates are and how fast leasing can occur. We see certainly markers of value in each of those being relatively transparent. I think land is the one place people are still trying to get a hand around it. As I said, we’re going to give things as they come through the system that we think are meaningful but it's hard to predict a large scale per shift that we know we were building towards. That will only kick in when some pretty meaningful projects come on line and we can provide sales statistics, structures in which we either ventured or in which we own a very significant economic interest. So I think that’s a little ways off. I think what we have consistently said is we think our book basis would be impossible to replicate on those assets today. So we feel quite good with that. But the upside potential and the optionality embedded in it is harder to put in down or has been to do that, so we have some real strong [indices] of value from the end users.

Jason Fooks

Management

Thanks Jonathan.

Operator

Operator

And we will go to Ian Goltra with Forward Management. Please go ahead.

Ian Goltra - Forward Management

Management

Good morning, Jay. Just a quick question regarding Michael Kim's earlier question, surrounding seasonality, I just wanted to confirm which of the assets are seasonal and what's the source of that seasonality?

Jay Sugarman

Management

One of the biggest is hospitality in Waikiki, which does have a pretty pronounced seasonality. We also get on one of our large net lease projects the little bit of participation payments to come in. So there is a couple of things that are going to show up that will make those numbers move around a little bit.

Ian Goltra - Forward Management

Management

Okay. Good. Thank you.

Jason Fooks

Management

Thanks Ian.

Operator

Operator

And Mr. Fooks, I will turn it back to you.

Jason Fooks

Management

Great. Thank you for joining us today. If you have any additional questions on today’s earnings release, please feel free to reach out to me directly. John, would you please give the conference call replay instructions once again.

Operator

Operator

Certainly. And ladies and gentlemen, the replay starts today at 12.30 p.m. Eastern and will last until August 9th at midnight. You may access the replay at anytime by dialing 800-475-6701 or 320-365-3844. The access code is 298455. Those numbers again, 800-475-6701 or 320-365-3844, the access code 298455. That does conclude your conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.