Cashing Out: Investor Behind CB Offering

Orange County Business Journal, Mar 15-Mar 21, 2004 by King, Danny

But the expectation that CB would match those multiples may be misplaced, said Silvers, because it won't distribute dividends.

According to its Feb. 18 SEC filing, CB's debt-to-equity ratio was 4.8 as of Dec. 31, a far cry from Grubb & Ellis' 9.9 figure but higher than Trammell Crow and Jones Lang LaSalle's ratios of 0.84 and 1.2, respectively.

Even if all of the public offering proceeds were applied to debt, it would make up just 8% of the more than $1.8 billion of the company's total liabilities.

"The company is highly leveraged and you're in an environment where people want dividends," Silvers said. "Their balance sheet is going to weigh them down."

King is a staff writer at the Los Angeles Business Journal.