Shareholders' Equity

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Shareholders' Equity

Shareholders' Equity of the General Partner and Partners' Capital of the Partnership

General Partner

In January 2013, the General Partner completed a public offering of 41.4 million common shares at an issue price of $14.25 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $590.0 million and, after underwriting fees and estimated offering costs, net proceeds of approximately $571.9 million. A portion of the net proceeds from this offering were used to repay all of the outstanding borrowings under the Partnership's existing revolving credit facility, which had an outstanding balance of $285.0 million as of December 31, 2012, and the remaining proceeds were used to redeem all of the General Partner's outstanding 8.375% Series O Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares ("Series O Shares") and for general corporate purposes.

In February 2013, the General Partner redeemed all of the outstanding shares of its Series O Shares at their liquidation amount of $178.0 million. Original offering costs of $5.9 million were included as a reduction to net income attributable to common shareholders in conjunction with the redemption of these shares.

In the first three months of 2013, the General Partner issued 213,333 shares of common stock pursuant to its at the market equity program, generating gross proceeds of approximately $3.0 million and, after considering commissions and other costs, net proceeds of approximately $2.8 million. The General Partner paid approximately $60,000 in commissions related to the sale of these common shares. The proceeds from these offerings were used for acquisitions, general corporate purposes and redemption of preferred shares and fixed rate secured debt.

Partnership

For each share of common stock or preferred stock that the General Partner issues, the Partnership issues a corresponding General Partner Unit or Preferred Unit, as applicable, to the General Partner in exchange for the contribution of the proceeds from the stock issuance. Similarly, when the General Partner redeems or repurchases shares of its common stock or preferred stock, the Partnership redeems the corresponding Common Units or Preferred Units held by the General Partner at the same price.