VANCOUVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE: CIO) (“City Office” or the “Company”) announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized a quarterly dividend amount of $0.15 per share of common stock and common unit of partnership interest for the first quarter of 2020. Additionally, the Board of Directors authorized a regular quarterly dividend of $0.4140625 per share of the Company’s 6.625% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock. The dividends will be payable on April 24, 2020 to all stockholders and operating partnership unitholders of record as of the close of business on April 9, 2020.
As of March 24, 2020, the Company has over $140 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and over $90 million of further availability under its unsecured credit facility. The Company also announced that it has paused its acquisition activity and now expects that it will not acquire any properties in 2020. Instead, the Company intends to allocate capital to the previously announced $100 million share repurchase program and to continue to operate with lower leverage.
“City Office has diversified and high-quality tenants with strong credit and low exposure to the industries currently most impacted by COVID-19,” commented James Farrar, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. “However, given the uncertain operating environment and the potential for an elongated economic recovery, we are taking steps to optimally position ourselves. The Company intends to operate with lower leverage, greater liquidity and position ourselves for healthy long-term cash flow growth. The adjusted common stock dividend has been established at a level we believe will be defensive under these economic conditions and help to achieve these goals. Further, we believe that it is in the best interest of shareholders to allocate some of our capital to the recently commenced common stock buy back program given the discounted valuation of our stock.”
About City Office REIT, Inc.
City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located in leading 18-hour cities in the Southern and Western United States. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.8 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on management's current expectations, assumptions and beliefs. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipate", "expect," "intend," "may" and similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding repurchases of CIO's common stock. They are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among other things, the timing and amount of repurchases of CIO's common stock, if any, changes to CIO's expected liquidity position, the possibility that the repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time and the risk factors set forth in CIO's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and any subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The statements made herein speak only as of the date of this press release and except as required by law, CIO does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
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