PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE:RAS) (“RAIT”) today announced that it sold four properties during the second quarter of 2017 which generated aggregate gross proceeds of $73.2 million. These transactions align with RAIT’s previously announced strategy of transforming RAIT into a more focused, cost-efficient and lower leverage business concentrated on its core commercial real estate lending business.

RAIT sold two office properties located in Downingtown, Pennsylvania and St. Paul, Minnesota, one of the two parcels comprising a retail property in Nashville, Tennessee, and a multifamily property in Durham, North Carolina. RAIT used approximately $62.6 million of these gross proceeds to repay related indebtedness, pay transaction costs and for other items.

Since the beginning of 2017, consistent with RAIT’s previously announced transformative strategy, RAIT has divested $211.5 million of its property portfolio and reduced related indebtedness by $173.6 million.

About RAIT Financial Trust

RAIT Financial Trust is an internally-managed real estate investment trust focused on providing debt financing options to owners of commercial real estate throughout the United States. For more information, please visit www.rait.com or call Investor Relations at 215.207.2100.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “strategy,” “transform,” “plan,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “seek,” or other similar words or terms. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding RAIT’s initiatives to further simplify its business to focus on its commercial real estate lending business, reduce costs, deleverage and enhance value and returns for shareholders and RAIT’s actions taken or contemplated to enhance its long-term prospects and create value for its shareholders. Such forward-looking statements are based upon RAIT’s historical performance and its current plans, estimates and expectations and are not a representation that such plans, estimates, or expectations will be achieved. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans, estimates or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to, RAIT’s ability to continue to sell properties and repay the related debt, RAIT’s ability to transition to a more focused, cost-efficient and lower leverage business, final accounting determinations on gains or losses realized in the event properties are sold for prices that differ from their carrying value or if property valuations are adjusted in the process of revaluating properties when they are characterized as held for sale and other factors described in RAIT’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in other filings with the SEC. RAIT undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.

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