Under the Parent Company's ATM equity offering program, the Parent Company may sell up to $500.0 million of common stock at prices determined by the market at the time of sale. During September 2019, the Company entered into forward sale agreements under its ATM program through which the Company will issue 1,894,845 shares of its common stock at an average offering price of $67.99. The shares under the forward sales agreements may be settled at any time before the settlement date, which is September 12, 2020. No shares have been settled at December 31, 2019. Proceeds from the issuance of shares are expected to be used to fund acquisitions of operating properties, to fund developments and redevelopments, and for general corporate purposes. There were no shares issued under the ATM equity program during the year ended December 31, 2018. As of December 31, 2019, $500.0 million of common stock remained available for issuance under this ATM equity program, before settlement of the forward shares described above.

On February 4, 2020, the Company's Board authorized a new common share repurchase program under which the Company, may purchase, from time to time, up to a maximum of $250 million of shares of its outstanding common stock through open market purchases and/or in privately negotiated transactions. Any shares purchased will be retired. The program is set to expire on February 5, 2021. The timing and actual number of shares purchased under the program depend upon marketplace conditions and other factors. The program remains subject to the discretion of the Board.

In January 2019, the Company settled 563,229 shares, which were repurchased in December 2018 under a previously active repurchase program, for $32.8 million at an average price of $58.17 per share. The program closed in February 2019, with a newly authorized program that ended February 2020 with no repurchases made under it.

Common units of the operating partnership are issued or redeemed and retired for each of the shares of Parent Company common stock issued or repurchased and retired, as described above.

In September 2019, the Operating Partnership issued 396,531 exchangeable operating partnership units, valued at $25.9 million, as partial purchase price consideration for the acquisition of an operating shopping center.

The Parent Company, as general partner, owned the following Partnership Units outstanding:

	December 31,
(in thousands)	2019			2018
Partnership units owned by the general partner		167,571			167,904
Partnership units owned by the limited partners		746			350
Total partnership units outstanding		168,317			168,254
Percentage of partnership units owned by the general partner		99.6	%		99.8	%