Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Equity - COPT and Subsidiaries

v3.6.0.2
Equity - COPT and Subsidiaries
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]  
Equity - COPT and Subsidiaries
Equity - COPT and Subsidiaries

Preferred Shares

As of December 31, 2016, COPT had 25.0 million preferred shares authorized at $0.01 par value per share. The table below sets forth additional information pertaining to COPT’s outstanding preferred shares (dollars in thousands, except per share data):
Series
 
# of Shares Issued
 
Aggregate Liquidation Preference
 
Month of Issuance
 
Annual Dividend Yield
 
 Annual Dividend Per Share
 
Earliest Redemption Date
 
Series K
 
531,667

 
$
26,583

 
January 2007
 
5.600
%
 
$
2.80000

 
1/9/2017
(1)
Series L
 
6,900,000

 
172,500

 
June 2012
 
7.375
%
 
$
1.84375

 
6/27/2017
 
 
 
7,431,667

 
$
199,083

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


(1) As discussed below, COPT redeemed all of its Series K Preferred Shares effective on January 21, 2017.

Each series of preferred shares is nonvoting and redeemable for cash in the amount of its liquidation preference at COPT’s option on or after the earliest redemption date. The Series K Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (the “Series K Preferred Shares”) were also convertible, subject to certain conditions, into common shares on the basis of 0.8163 common shares for each preferred share. Holders of all preferred shares are entitled to cumulative dividends, payable quarterly (as and if declared by the Board of Trustees). In the case of each series of preferred shares, there is a series of COPLP preferred units owned by COPT that carries substantially the same terms.

COPT redeemed all of the outstanding shares of its Series K Preferred Shares effective January 21, 2017 at a price of $50.00 per share, or $26.6 million in the aggregate, plus accrued and unpaid dividends thereon through the date of redemption. Concurrently with this redemption, COPLP redeemed its Series K Preferred Units on the same terms. Since we notified holders of the Series K Preferred Shares in December 2016 of our intention to redeem such shares, we present the liquidation preference of the shares as a liability on our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2016; we also recognized a $17,000 decrease to net income available to common shareholders in 2016 pertaining to the shares’ original issuance costs incurred. The liability associated with these shares is classified in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

COPT redeemed all of the outstanding shares of its 7.500% Series H Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares on June 16, 2014 at a price of $25.00 per share, or $50.0 million in the aggregate, plus accrued and unpaid dividends thereon through the date of redemption, and recognized a $1.8 million decrease to net income available to common shareholders pertaining to the shares’ original issuance costs incurred at the time of the redemption.

Common Shares

COPT completed the public offering of 5.52 million common shares in November 2014 at an offering price of $27.30 per share for net proceeds of $148.9 million after underwriter discounts but before offering expenses. COPT contributed the net proceeds from this issuance to COPLP in exchange for an equal number of units in COPLP.

In October 2012, COPT established an at-the-market (“ATM”) stock offering program under which it could, from time to time, offer and sell common shares in “at the market” stock offerings having an aggregate gross sales price of up to $150.0 million. COPT issued 890,241 common shares under this program in 2015 at a weighted average price of $30.29 per share. Net proceeds from the shares issued totaled $26.6 million, after payment of $0.4 million in commissions to sales agents; COPT contributed the net proceeds from these issuances to COPLP in exchange for an equal number of units in COPLP. As discussed below, this program was replaced by a new ATM program established in 2016.

In September 2016, COPT established a new ATM stock offering program under which it may, from time to time, offer and sell common shares in “at the market” stock offerings having an aggregate gross sales price of up to $200.0 million. This program replaced the ATM stock offering program that we previously had in place. COPT issued 3.72 million common shares in the three months ended December 31, 2016 at a weighted average price of $29.56 per share. Net proceeds from the shares issued totaled $109.1 million, after payment of $0.9 million in commissions to sales agents. COPT contributed the net proceeds from these issuances to COPLP in exchange for an equal number of units in COPLP. COPT’s remaining capacity under this ATM program is an aggregate gross sales price of $90.0 million in common share sales.

Holders of COPLP common units converted their units into COPT common shares on the basis of one common share for each common unit in the amount of 87,000 in 2016, 160,160 in 2015 and 140,149 in 2014.

COPT declared dividends per common share of $1.10 in 2016, 2015 and 2014.

See Note 15 for disclosure of common share activity pertaining to our share-based compensation plans.