Sun Communities To Acquire Carefree Communities For About $1.68 Bln

(RTTNews) - Sun Communities Inc. (SUI) and its primary operating subsidiary Sun Communities Operating Limited Partnership or "Operating Partnership" entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement with Carefree Communities Intermediate Holdings, L.L.C. or the "Seller" with respect to the Operating Partnership's acquisition from the Seller of all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Carefree Communities Inc.

The aggregate purchase price for the acquisition is approximately $1.68 billion, including approximately $1.655 billion for the purchase of 102 communities, $9.0 million for the purchase of a community recently acquired by Carefree Communities and approximately $16.0 million for the purchase of manufactured homes and park models.

As consideration for the acquisition, the Operating Partnership will assume approximately $1.0 billion of debt, the Company will issue the Seller $225.0 million in shares of the Company's common stock at an issuance price of $67.57 per share, based on the trailing 30-day volume weighted average price of the Company's common stock as of the close of business on March 21, 2016, and the Operating Partnership will pay the balance of the purchase price in cash.

In connection with the acquisition, the Company has obtained transaction insurance under which it will have $75.0 million of coverage for any breaches by Seller of its representations and warranties under the Stock Purchase Agreement.

Carefree Communities directly or indirectly owns 103 manufactured home and recreational vehicle or "RV" communities, comprising 9,829 developed manufactured home sites, 17,725 RV sites and approximately 396 additional manufactured home sites and approximately 2,586 additional RV sites suitable for development. These communities are concentrated in California, Florida and Ontario, Canada.

The company anticipates that the closing of the acquisition will occur no later than July 9, 2016. The consummation of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.