Koll Real Estate Completes Deal to Help Cut Debt by 40%

Koll Real Estate Group Inc. said it has completed a previously announced deal with Libra Invest & Trade Ltd. that helps reduce Koll’s debt by nearly 40%, to $140 million from $230 million at the end of last year.

In one transaction, Koll swapped its interest in its Lake Superior Land Co. subsidiary for approximately $42.4 million of publicly traded Koll senior subordinated debentures--or corporate IOUs--held by Libra; all of the net cash proceeds generated by Libra’s periodic sales of approximately 3.4 million shares of Koll Class A common stock over the next three years, and a contingent right to additional cash proceeds depending on the ultimate earnings of Lake Superior Land Co.

Lake Superior Land Co. owns and manages approximately 290,000 acres of forest lands and shoreline property on Lake Superior in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Koll also completed a transaction with privately held Libra, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, in which Koll exchanged approximately 3.4 million newly issued shares of its Class A stock for approximately $10.6 million in publicly traded Koll subordinated debentures held by Libra.

Koll has said that it expects to report a profit of nearly $10 million for 1993.

The company provides commercial, industrial, retail and residential real estate development services. Its principal holdings are in Southern California and New Hampshire and include the 1,500-acre Bolsa Chica property next to Huntington Beach.

Koll Real Estate Group shares, traded on the Nasdaq market, closed at 41 cents a share Monday, down 3 cents a share for the day.