Get used to hearing more about MountainSeed Real Estate Services after it secured its third sale-leaseback transaction in the past month.
Finward Bancorp in Munster, Ind., disclosed in a regulatory filing that it sold five properties to MountainSeed for $17.2 million. Four of the properties are in Indiana; the fourth is in Illinois.
The $2.1 billion-asset Finward said it agreed to initial 15-year lease terms for the properties, which the sales expected to close by the third week of February. The rent will adjust upward by 2% annually.
The first year of pretax rent expense will be $1.5 million, which will be partially offset by eliminating the roughly $265,000 annual pretax depreciation expense for the buildings.
Finward said it expects the transaction will result in proceeds that will be $11.7 million in excess of the properties’ book value. Net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including a potential reduction in borrowed funds and associated interest expense costs.
MountainSeed has committed $61.6 million to buy a total of 20 properties from Finward, Plumas Bancorp in Nevada and Citizens Bank in Mississippi.