Macerich Sells Another Asset to Continue Debt Reduction
The COVID-19 pandemic proved very costly for Macerich (NYSE: MAC). Not only did the pandemic crush the mall REIT's near-term financial results, but it also forced Macerich to issue hundreds of millions of dollars of new stock to shore up its balance sheet, diluting existing shareholders.
Management wants to avoid repeating its prior mistakes by maintaining a more conservative balance sheet. Macerich recently closed its second major asset sale of 2021, furthering its debt reduction efforts.
Macerich entered the pandemic with far too much debt. Including its share of joint-venture debt, the REIT had nearly $8.1 billion of total borrowings at the end of 2019, offset by less than $200 million of cash. This put net debt at over 9.3 times the company's 2019 EBITDA of $845 million.
Source Fool.com
