PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: IRT) (“IRT”) announced that today IRT’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share of IRT common stock, payable on April 22, 2022 to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 1, 2022.
“Upon the completion of our merger with STAR, we are in a unique position of strength,” said Scott Schaeffer, Chairman and CEO of IRT. “We plan to invest our excess cash flow into several investment opportunities that will deliver strong returns, namely our value add renovations and development projects. The Board will continue to evaluate IRT’s capital allocation strategy to ensure it is maximizing value for our shareholders.”
About Independence Realty Trust, Inc.
Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: IRT) is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates multifamily apartment properties in 119 communities, across non-gateway U.S. markets including Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Oklahoma City, OK, Raleigh-Durham, NC, Houston, TX, Nashville, TN, and Memphis, TN. IRT’s investment strategy is focused on gaining scale within key amenity rich submarkets that offer good school districts, high-quality retail and major employment centers. IRT aims to provide stockholders attractive risk-adjusted returns through diligent portfolio management, strong operational performance, and a consistent return on capital through distributions and capital appreciation. More information may be found on the Company’s website www.irtliving.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), 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,” “strategy,” “expects,” “seeks,” “believes,” “potential,” or other similar words. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, our expectations as to the timing and amount of future dividends and anticipated benefits of our merger transaction with STAR. Such forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, estimates and assumptions and our actual results may differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and not within our control. In addition, these forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions with respect to future business strategies and decisions that are subject to change. Risks and uncertainties that might cause our future actual results and/or future dividends to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: risks related to the impact of COVID-19 and other potential future outbreaks of infectious diseases on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and performance and those of our residents as well as on the economy and real estate and financial markets; changes in market demand for rental apartment homes and pricing pressures, including from competitors, that could limit our ability to lease units or increase rents or that could lead to declines in occupancy and rent levels; uncertainty and volatility in capital and credit markets, including changes that reduce availability, and increase costs, of capital; inability of tenants to meet their rent and other lease obligations and charge-offs in excess of our allowance for bad debt; legislative restrictions that may delay or limit collections of past due rents; risks endemic to real estate and the real estate industry generally; impairment charges; the effects of natural and other disasters; delays in completing, and cost overruns incurred in connection with, our value add initiatives and failure to achieve projected rent increases and occupancy levels on account of the initiatives; the structure, timing and completion of our merger transaction with STAR and any effects of the announcement, completion of the merger, including failure to realize the cost savings, synergies and other benefits expected to result from the merger; the ability to successfully integrate the IRT and STAR businesses; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement, including failure to receive required stockholder approvals; the risk that the parties may not be able to satisfy the conditions to the merger in a timely manner or at all; risks related to disruption of management time from ongoing business operations due to the announced merger transaction; the risk that the merger and its announcement could have an adverse effect on our ability to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with our customers and suppliers, and on our operating results and businesses generally; unexpected costs of REIT qualification compliance; unexpected changes in our intention or ability to repay certain debt prior to maturity; inability to sell certain assets within the time frames or at the pricing levels expected; costs and disruptions as the result of a cybersecurity incident or other technology disruption; and share price fluctuations. Please refer to the documents filed by us with the SEC, including specifically the “Risk Factors” sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and our other filings with the SEC, which identify additional factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements. We undertake 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. In addition, the declaration of dividends on our common stock is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and depends upon a broad range of factors, including our results of operations, financial condition, capital requirements, the annual distribution requirements under the REIT provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable legal requirements and such other factors as our Board of Directors may from time to time deem relevant. For these reasons, as well as others, there can be no assurance that dividends in the future will be equal or similar to the amount of the dividend described in this press release.
