Self-Storage Finance Firm Jernigan Capital Closes Initial Public Offering

Update 4/2/15 – Jernigan Capital has closed the IPO offering of 5 million shares of its common stock, the company announced yesterday in a press release. All shares, priced at $20, were offered by the company.

A registration statement relating to the securities was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 26. A copy of the final prospectus related to the offering is available through Raymond James & Associates Inc., which served as the book-running manager for the IPO, according to the release.

3/30/15 – Jernigan Capital announced last week it would price its March 27 IPO at $20 per share. The company initially indicated it would offer 5 million shares between $19 and $21 in its effort to raise $100 million. The commercial real estate finance firm also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of common stock at the IPO price, according to a press release.

The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, under the ticker symbol “JCAP.”

3/16/15 – Jernigan Capital LLC, a merchant bank and advisory firm serving the self-storage industry, will hold an initial public offering (IPO) on March 27 in an effort to raise $100 million. The company will issue 5 million shares at $19 to $21 per share and have a market cap of $105.2 million, according to the source. Baird, Raymond James Financial Inc., and Wunderlich Securities Inc. served as underwriters for the IPO.

“We intend to originate a diversified portfolio of development, acquisition and refinance loans secured by self-storage facilities primarily in the top 50 United States metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, as delineated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget,” Jernigan Capital officials said in the IPO filing. “We believe these attractive opportunities exist due to excellent long-term self-storage industry fundamentals, significant demand for loans secured by self-storage facilities, and reluctance of commercial banks and other traditional lenders to loan money on acceptable terms to finance self-storage facilities.”

Jernigan Capital is led by president and founder Dean Jernigan, the former CEO of self-storage real estate investment trust CubeSmart. Jernigan launched the finance company in January 2014. He has more than 30 years of industry experience, having founded Storage USA Inc. in 1984. In 2006, he became CEO of U-Store-It Trust Inc., which changed its branding to CubeSmart in fall 2011. He officially retired from the REIT on Dec. 31, 2013.

Headquartered in Miami, Jernigan Capital provides loans in markets across the United States. Its senior staff has participated in more than $6 billion of self-storage transactions over the past 30 years.