RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS) (“RAIT”) announced that on March 13, 2018, RAIT’s Board of Trustees (“the Board”) declared regular first quarter 2018 cash dividends of $0.484375 per share on RAIT’s 7.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, $0.5234375 per share on RAIT’s 8.375% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares and $0.5546875 per share on RAIT’s 8.875% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares. The dividends will be paid on April 2, 2018 to holders of record on March 23, 2018. The Board also decided to continue the previously announced suspension of the dividend on RAIT’s common shares for the first quarter of 2018. The Board expects to continue reviewing the status of the preferred and common dividends quarterly.

Other Items

Q4 and Fiscal 2017 Financial Results

  • RAIT expects to timely file its annual report for the year ended December 31, 2017 on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 16, 2018.
  • RAIT expects to post its fourth quarter and fiscal 2017 financial supplement to the RAIT website by March 16, 2018. RAIT does not expect to host a Q4 and fiscal 2017 conference call.

About RAIT Financial Trust

RAIT Financial Trust is an internally-managed real estate investment trust focused on managing a portfolio of commercial real estate assets throughout the United States.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “continue” or other similar words or terms. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Board’s plans to consider whether to declare preferred and common dividends quarterly. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, strategies or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to, whether the Board will continue to declare dividends on RAIT’s preferred shares or continue to suspend the declaration of the dividend on RAIT’s common shares based on its analysis of RAIT’s financial position, liquidity and capital resources at the relevant time; RAIT’s ability to meet New York Stock Exchange continued listing standards; whether RAIT will be able to implement actions that will increase RAIT’s liquidity and better position RAIT to meet its financial obligations as they come due and to continue to operate as a going concern; whether RAIT will be able to obtain sufficient liquidity through distributions from its consolidated securitizations and servicing and managing RAIT’s existing commercial real estate loan portfolio to better position RAIT to meet its financial obligations as they come due; whether RAIT will be able to continue to divest RAIT’s legacy real estate owned portfolio and existing property management operations and the majority of RAIT’s non-lending assets and repay any related debt and generate additional liquidity; final accounting determinations on gains or losses realized in the event properties are sold or divested for prices that differ from their carrying value or if property valuations are adjusted in the process of revaluating properties when they are characterized as held for sale; RAIT’s ability to attract and retain members of its management team and key employees; and other factors described in RAIT’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in other filings with the SEC. RAIT undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.