RAIT Board Unanimously Rejects Proposal From Highland Capital

(RTTNews) - RAIT Financial Trust (RAS), an internally-managed real estate investment trust, announced Thursday that its Board of Trustees carefully reviewed Highland Capital Management, L.P.'s unsolicited and non-binding proposal and unanimously determined that pursuing it is not in the best interests of RAIT's shareholders.

The company was commenting on Highland's publicly-disclosed unsolicited and non-binding proposal for an affiliate of Highland to pursue an externalization of management transaction with RAIT and serve as RAIT's external advisor.

Michael Malter, RAIT's independent Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said, "The RAIT Board unanimously believes that RAIT's prospects as an independent internally-managed, internally-advised REIT remain strong and that our goal of building long-term shareholder value will currently be best served by remaining focused on the execution of our transformative strategy."

Malter added that the RAIT Board takes its fiduciary duties very seriously and would consider any transaction that reflects the full and fair value of RAIT's current business and future prospects and provides our shareholders with full and fair value and an appropriate control premium for their shares.