Description
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in office buildings and laboratories leased to tenants in the life science and technology industries.
The company also has a venture capital arm, Alexandria Venture Investments, which invests in life sciences firms.
The company is named after Alexandria, Egypt because of that city's connection to science.
History
In 1993, one of the partners of Jacobs Engineering Group, Jerry M. Sudarsky, was presented with a Business Plan written by Kendell R. Lang titled BioProperties Management Group, Inc., which was a plan to form a REIT dedicated to funding biotech properties. The initial business plan included founders Kendell Lang, Alan Gold, Gary Kreitzer, and Steven Stone as part of the initial management team. Jacobs approached Joel S. Marcus, a lawyer and CPA, with the idea of representing their interests in this company to oversee the management team who intended to provide laboratories and office space to biotech firms. Jacobs invested in the company with $5 million.
Its first purchase was of 4 buildings in San Diego which had been negotiated and structured by Kendell R. Lang.
In 1997, it became a public company via an initial public offering, raising $155 million. Alan Gold served as President and Director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities until 1998, when he, Kreitzer, and Stone left to form BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (formerly NYSE:BRE).
Overall, the REIT generated an average annual total return of 13.3% since its IPO in 1997, easily beating the S&P 500's 8.2% total return during that time frame.
In October 2002, the company acquired the headquarters of ZymoGenetics for $52 million in a leaseback transaction.
In 2007, the company began development of the West Tower of the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto. The company stopped construction during the financial crisis of 2007-08, and in 2014, it sold its interest to the Government of Ontario for $65 million.
In January 2013, the company sold a research facility in Seattle to Trammell Crow Company for $42.6 million.
In March 2017, it was added to the S&P 500.
In June 2018, the company acquired an office building leased to Amazon.com in Seattle from The Blackstone Group for $95 million.
In July 2018, the company acquired 219 East 42nd Street, the headquarters of Pfizer, for $203 million in a leaseback transaction.
