Cousins - Trophy Assets and Opportunistic Investments

This speaks for itself.

Cousins Properties, 2013 Annual Report

"Our mission has been clear since the start of 2012—simple platform, trophy assets and opportunistic investments. In January 2012, our equity market capitalization was $665 million with 46% of Net Operating Income coming from urban trophy office buildings. Today, it’s over $2 billion with 85% of Net Operating Income coming from urban trophy office buildings. At year-end 2013, our total shareholder return was 25.6% on a one-year basis and 31.9% on a three-year basis. This compares to 6.6% and 21.0%, respectively, for the SNL US REIT Office Index. As in everything we undertake, the ultimate goal is to provide attractive total returns for our shareholders.

We have timed this cycle well, acquiring $1.6 billion of trophy assets in 2013 at an average discount of 57% to replacement cost. Our most notable move during the year was the acquisition of Crescent’s Texas portfolio in September. This transaction was accompanied by the successful issuance of 69 million common shares, enabling us to grow the company’s total market capitalization by 57% overnight, while adding 5.3 million square feet of Class A office assets in Houston and Fort Worth. In the first half of the year, we acquired Post Oak Central in Houston and 816 Congress in Austin. Our Texas presence now represents 52% of our total portfolio square footage and is exclusively located in the three major markets of Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Austin."

Larry L. Gellerstedt III
President and Chief Executive Officer