Irwin Katsof, Lady Margaret Thatcher and Tom Brokaw. Former Attorney General of the United States John Ashcroft, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The Right Honorable Sir John Major, KG, CH and Irwin Katsof. Former President Bill Clinton with Irwin Katsof. Michael Douglas, President Mikhail Gorbachev, Raisa Gorbachev and Barbara Walters.
 


UNITED STATES REAL ESTATE

Doheny's domestic real estate activities are conducted through Terra Partners, LLC, a privately held real estate firm that acquires land and improved real estate for lease to investment grade companies. The firm engages in sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions, as well as land and improved property acquisitions for lease to corporate clients. Terra Partners’ goal is to deliver superior economic results, favorable accounting treatment and efficient tax results for its tenants.

The Managing Partners of the firm bring an in-depth knowledge to these activities based on their years of experience in finance, accounting and tax. Terra Partners pioneered the first residual value insurance policy available for capital markets, a policy with an unconditional guaranty of the value of the property at the end of the lease term. Widespread acceptance of this policy as the standard in the industry now provides significantly lower rental rates on long-term bond leases. The firm also innovated two mezzanine financing structures, unique to credit tenant leasing, that permit (i) the securitization of rents in excess of fixed payment obligations on a first mortgage; and (ii) the issuance of subordinated zero coupon notes secured by residual value policies.

Except in special situations, Terra Partners’ leases are designed to provide off balance sheet treatment and very low accounting rent expense. The tenant’s tax benefits are maximized through careful application of the provisions contained in Section 467 of the Internal Revenue Code.

The innovative structures currently being offered by Terra Partners include:

  • The Terra Ground Lease, a 99-year traditional ground lease with the majority of the rent payable during the early years of the lease. This lease is economically superior to borrowing at or below the current yield on Treasury bonds and results in annual GAAP rent expense of less than 2.5% of the value of the leased property.
  • The Terra Advantage Lease for improved property, a 30 to 40 year lease that provides rent-free occupancy for the last 15 to 20 years of the lease term. The Advantage Lease can be used for existing as well as build-to-suit and newly acquired properties and is economically equivalent to a level-pay lease with annual rent less than 6? percent of the value of the property. The annual accounting rent expense is generally less than 5.5 percent.

Terra Partners maintains working relationships with nationally known real estate advisory and property management firms as well as national banking and investment banking institutions. The firm draws upon these relationships as required for each transaction.

Terra Partners constructed the new corporate headquarters of Progress Energy, Inc., in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina for $95 million. This building is the cornerstone of the redevelopment of downtown Raleigh. The firm also has acquired the following properties:

  • downtown Birmingham, Alabama headquarters buildings of BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.
  • two suburban Birmingham regional office buildings leased to BellSouth
  • former corporate headquarters of El Paso Natural Gas in El Paso, Texas, and
  • ten regional multi-department stores leased to Fred Meyer (now a subsidiary of Kroger Co.)


These properties represent an investment of more than $500 Million. Each is leased on a triple net basis with the tenant maintaining operating control of the property. Terra Partners believes that each tenant will continue to treat the property as its own and thereby maximize the long-term value of the property.

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