Deal Timeline

Plotted by close date where disclosed, otherwise announcement. Select any marker to jump to the deal entry.

The Rationale That Repeats.

Three patterns show up across MID AMERICA APARTMENT COMMUNITIES's deal book — what the team buys, how it pays, and how it integrates. The patterns are the throughline; the deals below are the evidence.

01
Acquisition criteria
Growth by corporate merger, not community-by-community buying.
MAA's defining acquisitions are two whole-company combinations, not the routine apartment-community purchases typical of REITs. Both the Colonial Properties Trust merger (2013) and the Post Properties merger (2016) folded an entire public REIT into MAA in a single transaction, each roughly doubling or materially expanding the platform's scale at once.
Post PropertiesColonial Properties Trust
02
Capital deployment
All-stock, tax-efficient combinations under a consistent Sunbelt thesis.
Each merger was structured as an all-stock exchange (0.36 MAA shares per Colonial share; 0.71 MAA shares per Post share) intended to be tax-free or tax-deferred, preserving balance-sheet capacity. Management framed both deals around the same goal: building a Sunbelt-focused multifamily REIT with enhanced competitive advantage across high-growth markets. As CEO H. Eric Bolton, Jr. put it, the scale of the combined company would support accelerated growth and deployment of capital across high-growth Sunbelt markets.
Post PropertiesColonial Properties Trust
03
Integration approach
Each deal moved MAA up the size rankings.
The Colonial merger created what was then the second-largest publicly traded REIT portfolio of owned apartments (~85,000 units, 285 properties); the Post merger created the largest publicly traded apartment REIT by number of owned units (~105,000 units, 317 properties). The combined company retained the MAA name and Memphis headquarters in both cases, integrating target boards rather than its operating brand.
Post PropertiesColonial Properties Trust

The Full Deal Book

2 acquisitions. Each entry carries the deal value, financing structure, target revenue, executive commentary, and the original SEC filing — the evidence behind the patterns above.

01 Post Properties, Inc. · Atlanta, GA (Sunbelt urban and suburban markets) $17B
Announced Aug 2016 Closed Dec 2016 all stock
Upscale urban and suburban apartment communitiesmultifamily development platformSunbelt market footprint

Post Properties, Inc. (NYSE: PPS), an Atlanta-based developer, owner and operator of upscale multifamily apartment communities concentrated in urban and suburban high-growth Sunbelt markets, merged with and into MAA. The combination created the largest publicly traded apartment REIT by number of owned units, with a combined asset base of approximately 105,000 multifamily units across 317 properties. approximately $17 billion (combined total market capitalization); ~$12 billion pro forma equity market capitalization.

Why it was attractive
  • Added an upscale
  • urban-and-suburban apartment portfolio and a value-accretive development platform that diversified MAA's rental price points and expanded external-growth and capital-recycling opportunities across the Sunbelt
The combination of MAA and Post will establish the leading apartment real estate platform focused on the high-growth Sunbelt region of the country with significant competitive advantages to drive superior value for our shareholders, residents and employees. The combined company will capture a broader market and submarket footprint, with improved rental price-point diversification that will support an enhanced level of performance over the full real estate cycle. Further, the Post development platform, with a strong history of value accretive new development, supported by the newly combined company platform, will expand external growth and accretive capital recycling opportunities for MAA.H. Eric Bolton — Jr., Chairman and CEO, MAA
This merger redefines the combined company in terms of product, capability and capacity for consistent growth. Its unique position in the apartment REIT space and strength of its financial position should drive an advantageous cost of capital and value for shareholders of both companies. Post shareholders are receiving an attractive value for our assets and business and a 24 percent increase in the dividend, while preserving the continuing opportunity to participate in the combined company's ongoing success.David P. Stockert — CEO and President, Post Properties
02 Colonial Properties Trust · Birmingham, AL (Sunbelt large and secondary markets) $8.6B
Announced Jun 2013 Closed Oct 2013 all stock
Sunbelt multifamily portfolio across large and secondary markets

Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP), a Birmingham, Alabama-based multifamily REIT, merged with and into MAA, with MAA the surviving entity. The all-stock combination created a Sunbelt-focused multifamily REIT owning approximately 85,000 apartment units across 285 properties — at the time the second-largest publicly traded REIT portfolio of owned apartments. approximately $8.6 billion (combined total market capitalization); ~$5.1 billion pro forma equity valuation.

Why it was attractive
  • Brought together two highly complementary Sunbelt multifamily portfolios
  • adding scale (combined ~85
  • 000 units across 285 properties) and strategic diversity across large and secondary high-growth markets
The combination of MAA and Colonial Properties Trust will provide an enhanced competitive advantage across the Sunbelt region. The scale of the combined company will support accelerated growth and deployment of capital across our high-growth Sunbelt markets driving superior value creation opportunity for our shareholders. In addition, through capitalizing on the strengths gained from the combination of the two platforms, we will enhance our ability to serve residents across the region, drive higher margins as a result of synergies and advantages generated by the merger, and enhance career opportunities for our associates.H. Eric Bolton — Jr., CEO, MAA
This is a combination that makes a lot of sense for the constituents of both Colonial Properties Trust and MAA. Our two companies have a shared vision for success that will only be enhanced by coming together through this merger transaction. We are excited for the future of our combined company.Thomas H. Lowder — CEO, Colonial Properties Trust

More Acquirer Playbooks

See how VectorShift works for your firm

Request Demo