REFILE-UPDATE 1-Gramercy Capital Q3 FFO up 34 pct; halts div
(Fixes links to related items in last paragraph)
* Q3 FFO $0.60/shr Vs estimate of $0.25/shr
* Q3 bad loan provision rose to $18.9 mln from 2.5 mln
* Halts Q3 dividend to boost liquidity
* Shares rise 88 pct
Oct 30 (Reuters) - Real estate investment trust Gramercy Capital Corp (GKK.N) reported a 34 percent rise in quarterly funds from operations (FFO), beating Wall Street estimates, and said it halted third-quarter dividend on common shares to boost liquidity, sending its shares up as much as 88 percent.
The dividend halt for the third quarter will enable the company to retain about $32.3 million of cash based upon the prior quarter's dividend paid, Gramercy said.
Revenue almost doubled to $180 million, helped by operating expense reimbursements of $33.4 million, and a rise in rental revenue to $80.6 million from $2.5 million last year.
The company said it entered into new term loan and revolving credit facilities with Goldman Sachs in August and Wachovia in July, with extended maturities of December 2010 and July 2011, respectively.
Gramercy generated $156.4 million of loan repayments during the quarter. It reduced unfunded commitments related to existing loans by $19.8 million to $82.1 million, the company said.
Shares of the company were trading up 76 percent at $1.41 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a high of $1.50 earlier in the session.
Before Thursday's change, the stock had lost more than 95 percent of its value since January.
For urgent story click on [ID:nWNAB4766]. For press release click on [ID:nBw305378a]. (Reporting by Adheesha Sarkar in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)
