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THE COMPANY
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
Nature Of Operations [Abstract]  
THE COMPANY

NOTE 1: THE COMPANY

 

RAIT Financial Trust is a self-managed and self-advised Maryland real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on managing a portfolio of commercial real estate, or CRE, loans and properties.  References to “RAIT”, “we”, “us”, and “our” refer to RAIT Financial Trust and its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.  

 

On June 27, 2018, RAIT Asset Holdings IV, LLC, or RAIT IV, a subsidiary of RAIT, completed the sale of its FL5 Interests, as defined below, and FL6 Interests, as defined below (collectively, the Interests), to Melody RE II, LLC, or the Purchaser, for an aggregate purchase price of $54,632.

 

Prior to the sale,  RAIT IV was the holder of:

 

 

60% of the units, or the FL5 Interests, of RAIT – Melody 2016 Holdings, LLC, or Holdings 2016, which controls RAIT – Melody 2016 Holdings Trust. This trust owns various classes of non-investment grade bonds and the equity of RAIT 2015-FL5 Trust, or FL5, with the remaining 40% of the units of Holdings 2016 being held by affiliates of the Purchaser; and

 

60% of the units, or the FL6 Interests, of RAIT – Melody 2017 Holdings, LLC, or Holdings 2017, which controls RAIT – Melody 2017 Holdings Trust. This trust owns various classes of non-investment grade bonds and the equity of RAIT 2016-FL6 Trust, or FL6, with the remaining 40% of the units of Holdings 2017 being held by affiliates of the Purchaser.

 

As a result of the sale, RAIT is no longer the primary beneficiary of the Holdings 2016 and Holdings 2017 (collectively, the RAIT Venture VIEs), or FL5 and FL6. Therefore, RAIT deconsolidated those entities as of June 27, 2018. See Note 8: Variable Interest Entities for more information.  After the sale of the Interests, RAIT retained its role as servicer and special servicer of the loans in FL5 and FL6.

 

Also on June 27, 2018, RAIT, several of RAIT’s subsidiaries, including RAIT IV, and ARS VI Investor I, LP, or the Investor, entered into a Redemption and Exchange Agreement with the Investor whereby RAIT and RAIT IV redeemed and cancelled the remaining 2,939,190 preferred units of RAIT IV, or the preferred units, and RAIT’s corresponding Series D cumulative redeemable preferred shares, or the Series D preferred shares, for $56,765 of cash using the proceeds from the sale of RAIT IV’s FL5 Interests and FL6 Interests and defined available cash held by RAIT IV and $16,715 of liquidation preference of RAIT’s publicly traded Series A cumulative redeemable preferred shares, or the Series A preferred shares, Series B cumulative redeemable preferred shares, or the Series B preferred shares, and Series C cumulative redeemable preferred shares, or the Series C preferred shares.  See Note 9: Series D Preferred Shares for more information.

 

On September 7, 2017, we announced that our Board of Trustees, or the board, had formed a committee of independent trustees, or the special committee, to explore and evaluate a wide range of possible strategic and financial alternatives for RAIT. On February 20, 2018, we announced that the special committee had concluded this review and that the board had determined that this review did not identify a strategic or financial transaction with another counterparty that was preferable to the steps described below. This review, conducted with the support of financial and legal advisors, evaluated a wide range of potential alternatives which included, but were not limited to, (i) refinements of RAIT’s operations or strategy, (ii) financial transactions, such as a recapitalization or other change to RAIT’s capital structure and (iii) strategic transactions, such as a sale of all or part of RAIT.  As a result, the board, after considering the recommendations and advice of the special committee, RAIT’s management, in consultation with legal and financial advisors, determined that RAIT should take steps to increase RAIT’s liquidity and better position RAIT to meet its financial obligations as they come due. We refer to these steps as the 2018 strategic steps and they include, but are not limited to: (i) the suspension of RAIT’s lending business along with the implementation of other steps to reduce costs within its other operating businesses; (ii) the continuation of the process of selling RAIT’s owned real estate, or REO, portfolio and selling certain of our loans, while continuing to service and manage its existing CRE loan portfolio; and (iii) the engagement of a financial advisor, M-III Advisory Partners, LP, to advise and assist RAIT in its ongoing assessment of its financial performance and financial needs and in evaluating strategic and financial transactions.